32 The East Anglian Timber Willow. 
be no waste. This of course would be taken into con- 
sideration in the price offered. 
The wiser plan is to sell the trees to the merchant or bat 
maker, to be felled by the grower, the price agreed to be per 
cubic foot. The merchant is a far better judge of the quantity 
of timber in a tree of any size, and the grower has no 
chance of success in measuring his wits against him. 
When the trees are measured up, a bat maker would send 
down his special men to cut up into lengths and then into 
“ clefts.” The bat maker requires no part of the tree but the 
stem ; the top part, therefore, should remain the property of 
the grower, which he can dispose of only as firewood. It 
is possible that some of the upper branches of small trees 
may be serviceable for fresh sets, but, as before stated, this 
is not a very desirable course. 
Felling. 
In the willow tree, as in all other trees, the elaborated sap 
descends in the early autumn, and it is after this time that all 
trees should be felled. If by some means a contract for 
felling were delayed till the late winter or early spring, it 
would be desirable to ring the trees on the ground-level 
through both bark and sap wood, in order to check the rising 
of the sap into the tree. This can easily be done, a deep and 
narrow nick cut round being amply sufficient. 
In felling the trees it is desirable that great care should 
be exercised, since it appears that a bruise of the bark, 
even at that time, affects the colour of the wood, leaving 
stains and disfigurements. It is also desirable that the 
merchant should be able to examine for himself the nature of 
the timber if the trees are felled before sale. 
It is therefore better to cut down to the roots as far as the 
trunk extends and then saw off with a cross cut saw. There 
is no object in dealing with the trees as with oak trees ; that is, 
felling by cutting the roots only, leaving the. “ tod ends ” on 
the trees. The “ tod ends ” are left in oak trees because it is 
desirable that these trees should remain on the ground — 
possibly for a year —to season, and are thus prevented from 
splitting by the action of the sun ; but this is not the case 
with the willow, which should be cut up immediately and 
seasoned in the form of “ clefts.” 
Cutting, Seasoning, and Manufacturing. 
If willow trees are sold to a bat maker, they are cross cut 
into lengths of twenty-eight inches, and these in turn are split 
up into clefts. These clefts are split up along the radii so that 
the annual rings run from the front to the back of the bat. 
