96 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
There are two main things to be considered in 
clearing up timber laud. One is to level the 
timber in the most economical manner, and the 
other to make the most out of it when it is 
felled. It is a very common plan to let the 
trees fall in just the direction they may happen 
to go. They are cut -without judgment, and al¬ 
lowed to fall on other timber already cut, or 
often into the standing timber. This entails 
more than double work. By throwing the trees 
so that their tops form a long row through the 
if saw-logs are to be made, or to where they 
are to be worked up into rails or staves. The 
method described is shown by our artist in fig. 1. 
If a saw-mill is handy, the most profitable 
way of disposing of timber is undoubtedly to 
sell the logs or have them sawed into lumber. 
In cutting logs, 16 feet is the most desirable 
length. There is less waste in using lumber of 
that length. One and a half length makes 24 
feet a very common hight and width for build¬ 
ings and the proper length for a fence-board, 
readily split when driven. In splitting rails, if 
the log is very large, say over three feet, it will 
be best to split it into slabs of the thickness of 
a rail; if smaller, it may be split through the 
heart first, and then each half into four or more 
rails, as shown in fig. 3. Staves are very sala¬ 
ble, and are easily handled, and if properly 
piled up, and the top of the piles covered with 
the waste or faulty staves, they will keep sound 
for many years if.there is not a present market 
for them. Staves arc split witli an iron instru- 
Fig. 3.—SPLITTING RAILS. Fig. 4—SAWING LOGS AND MAKING SHINGLES. 
clearing, and as they fall lopping the limbs and 
tops from the body, and cutting that into logs 
of proper size for the purpose for which they 
are intended, whether for saw-logs, rail-cuts, or 
staves, two thirds of the labor of the common 
plan is saved. By cutting a tree low down on 
one side more than half through the stump, and 
cutting eight inches or a foot higher on the 
other side, it will always fall towards the side 
of the lower cut unless it leans very much the 
other way, when by cutting in the same man¬ 
ner at right angles to the direction in which it 
leans it may be thrown on either side that may 
be desired. A leaning tree will rarely fall 
“ across the cut” if the side of the stump toward 
which the tree leans is chopped away before the 
other side is cut through. Valuable timber that 
leans, and is liable to split before it is cut off, 
should be cut completely through at the heart 
before the skies are cut through. When timber 
is thus thrown in “ winrows,” there is no piling 
or picking up brash to do, and the oxen can get 
in amongst the logs and haul them to the log- 
heaps if they are- to be burned, or to the skids 
and one and a quarter length makes 20 feet, an¬ 
other usual size and hight for stables. Rail- 
cuts should be made 11 feet long, and logs for 
fence-posts 7 or 8 feet long. Posts should be 
sawed 6 in. x G in. square at the butt, and 6 in. 
x 3 in. at the top. This size saves timber, and 
gives tlie posts, on account of the enlarged butt, 
a firm hold in the post-hole. In sawing logs, 
when the saw pinches, a thin wedge should he 
driven into the top of the saw-cut, which opens 
it and frees the saw. Two or three of these 
ment called a frow, which is shown in fig. 4. 
If timber can not be used in any other manner, 
it would be better to hum it and save the ashes 
for making potash—directions for which were 
given in the Agriculturist for September, 1872. 
How to Make a Scow. 
A “ Subscriber,” whose farm is divided by a 
stream which is sometimes too deep to ford, 
asks how he can build a scow 
large enough to ferry a team 
or a loaded wagon across. 
There are many river-bottom 
fanners situated in circum¬ 
stances similar to those of our 
correspondent who would find 
it very convenient to possess 
such a scow as we here describe. 
The size necessary to carry a loaded wagon and 
team should be at least 20 feet long by 10 feet 
wide, and 15 or 16 inches deep. Three white-pine 
or hemlock planks, two inches thick and twelve 
Fig. 1.—SCOW, BOTTOM UP. 
wedges should always be on hand; they should »• 
he made of any hard wood, and should he a | 
little bulging at the sides up the center, and if 
the top of the wedge is beveled it will not I 
