Farming of Cumberland. 



283 



the old farm-houses. These bear a polish by frequent rubbings, 

 equal to that of the hardest marble; and the period of their 

 endurance is yet unknown, but must be mostly coeval with the 

 buildinfjs in which they are found. 



In 1850 the experiment was tried on the estate of Col. Youngson, 

 of peeling a great quantity of Scotch fir-trees, for the purpose of 

 making the carriage lighter by railway. A month after the bark 

 was taken off, the reduction in weight, including the bark, 

 amounted to 20 per cent. The object of economy in transport 

 was effected, and the timber was thought to be tougher, and of 

 better quality than that with the bark on. Whether it may last 

 as long is not yet proved. 



Where shelter is desirable on exposed situations, it may gra- 

 dually be obtained by commencing to plant a belt on the exposed 

 side. When these have rooted well, and risen so as to afford a 

 little shelter, another strip may be planted along the less exposed 

 side. This may be followed year after year by successive plant- 

 ings, increasing the width annually, till the ground is covered. 

 The third and fourth plantings will soon overtop the first, and 

 make more timber in a given time than if all had been planted 

 at the first. 



Another successful method is to plant spruce or Scotch fir 

 thinly, and as they rise, to fill up the spaces with the kind wanted. 

 The soil and situation must be bad indeed, if the spruce and 

 Scotch firs do not make a tolerable growth during the first ten or 

 fifteen years. They might then be thinned out, if thought 

 desirable. 



Preserving sawn Larch timber, Sfc. — Larch-wood being so 

 readily grown on almost any soil, to a size useful for agricultural 

 purposes, and being so convertible to various uses at a cheap rate, 

 has become one of the most serviceable kinds of timber now 

 grown ; and its preservation by cheap means, when in use for 

 gates, hurdles, rails, posts, palings, timbers, laths, flooring, and 

 various other purposes, is a matter of very considerable import- 

 ance. Different methods of preservation are in use in the county 

 — the cheapest and most manageable being steeping the planks 

 or sawn timbers in lime-pits. This is only effectively done 

 when the timber is in the green or unseasoned state : the lime in 

 solution then combining readily with the watery portion of the 

 sap, and filling or lining the pores of the wood therewith, and on 

 <lrying, rendering it so hard as to be planed with difficulty, and 

 giving it the property of several years' additional durability in a 

 sound state. The process is very simple, for the wood only 

 requires to be sprinkled with hot lime in powder, and after re- 

 maining a short while, to be thrown into a pit or tank of lime- 

 v/ater, made so strong as just to deposit the heavier particles of 



