PRUNING. 



347 



ing the timber, but to destroy life and facilitate the destruction of the tree. 

 We give the account of the process in the words of the author, W. Ward, 

 Esq. of Chester. " Mr. ]\[onteath, in his Forester's Guides strongly recom- 

 mends the disbarking of trees in the spring, before they are to be felled ; and 

 the effect in hardening the timber is certainly very great ; but, in a hot 

 summer, the exposed alburnum is apt to split more or less. A better mode 

 has been found to be that of merely cutting out clean, a rim, about four 

 inches in width, of the bark, close to the ground ; which, in larches, seems 

 to cause the turpentine to be wholly incorporated in the wood, instead of 

 passing down to the roots ; and, in fact, it so totally alters the condition of 

 the trees, that the workmen complain of their being much more difficult to 

 saw. Another result appears also very interesting. On February 9, 1831, 

 a section was cut from a larch that had been girdled, as above mentioned, in 

 the spring of 1830, and which then weighed 6540 grains. On March 21 it 

 weighed 4990 grains, having lost 1550 grains. A similar section, cut at the 

 same time, from an ungirdled larch, weighed, on February 9, 5610 grains, 

 and, if it had lost by evaporation only in the same proportion as the other, 

 should have shown, when weighed on March 21, a loss not greater than 

 1330 grains ; instead of which, it then weighed only 3330 grains ; thus 

 showing a loss of 2280 grains, nearly double the proportion of the former. 

 The effect of this process in establishing the straightness of the wood 

 is, moreover, very beneficial. A ladder made from a larch so treated 

 will be useful; whilst one not so seasoned will twist so as to be quite 

 worthless." 



778. The girdling machine. — " I have adopted a simple contrivance by which 

 the girdling is effected readily, and with precision, of which fig. 26 i will give 



A some idea. In this figure, 

 a is a piece of wood, two 

 feet long, four inches wide, 

 and two inches thick, hav- 

 ing two saws screwed on 

 it, one on the top and the 

 other at the bottom, so as 

 to be perfectly parallel at 

 the distance of six inches 

 from each other, and pro- 

 jecting about three quar- 



Fig. 261. Side view of the girdling machine, ^^^^ an iuch ; b shoWS 



the uppermost saw ; c is another piece of wood of the same dimensions, hav- 

 ing four small rollers projecting opposite to the saws ; d d show the upper- 

 most two of these rollers ; e is a slip of tempered steel fixed to «, at one 

 end, and set to c, at any requisite point, by a screw nut, /, passing through 

 different holes made in e, at about one inch distance ; ^ is a leather strap 

 fixed at one end to c, and fastened to a, by a button, ^, by suitable holes. 

 Fig. 262 is a perspective view of this machine. The bark, after being girdled 

 by the saws, may be taken off with any chisel, about three or four inches 

 broad in the mouth. Allow me to add, that even with the common pine, 

 (Pinus sylvestris), I find the process of girdling extremely beneficial. About 

 ten years since I had a pine-tree, which had been so treated, sawn into 

 boards, and made into a large door, which, though in a very exposed place, 

 has stood as well as any foreign deal. I conceive that by girdling, the whole 



