1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
849 
to Sir Janies Elphinstone’s remarks regarding the scar¬ 
city of agricultural implements, he would take leave to 
say, that the inventive genius of the Yankee had con¬ 
trived a great number of these implements* One rea¬ 
son might be the cheap rate at which patents might be 
secured—for $30 any invention might be patented, 
from a mouse-trap to a steam-engine. (Laughter and 
applause.) He was a stranger in this city, and he 
could say, without compromising himself as an Ameri¬ 
can and a republican, that he had drunk the health of 
the Queen and Prince Albert, and to the Navy and 
Army of Great Britain, for he considered that the gov¬ 
ernments of Great Britain and the United States, dif¬ 
fered far more in name than in reality. (Loud cheers.) 
He considered it rational, and even laudable, in an in¬ 
dividual to leave his own country with some national 
prejudice in its favor; but whatever prejudice he enter¬ 
tained against Great Britain had been entirely dispelled 
since his acquaintance with it. In conclusion, Mr. 
Miles returned his cordial thanks for the honor which 
had been done to his country and to himself. (Loud 
applause.)” _ 
Improved Cotswold Sheep* 
In answer to “J. P. R.” in our September number, 
J. W. Ware, Esq., of Berry ville-, Clark county, Va., 
writes: tf I import the improved Cotswold, called by 
some New Oxfordshire, for my own private use, not 
for speculation by sale.” He states that he has pur¬ 
chased a part of his sheep from Mr. Charles Large, 
near Lechdale, Oxfordshire. Mr. W. says: tl I wrote 
to him to send me none but Royal Prize Sheep, when¬ 
ever he could spare them. I put no limit, but paid the 
sum he demanded : presuming that the best, of course, 
would be exhibited for the prize, and especially direct¬ 
ing none to be sent but the prize sheep. Last year I 
received two ewes from the pen that took the prize at 
the Royal Society’s Show at York; this year I have pur¬ 
chased five of the ewes that took the prize at the Royal 
Agricultural Fair at Norwich, to come over this fall 
after being tupped by a ram weighing, alive, 420 lbs., 
which took the prize of £40 as the best shearling long- 
woolled ram, at the Royal Agricultural Society’s Show 
in 1847. When I use the words 1 royal prize,’ I mean, 
always, the prize given by the Royal Agricultural So¬ 
ciety of England. I do so to avoid an unnecessary fre¬ 
quent multiplicity of words, believing the term used 
would be fully understood, for I am not aware that the 
Queen herself individually gave any prize, and of eoure 
I could not be suspected of wishing to mislead by an im¬ 
proper expression.” 
Decay of Timber. 
Eds. Cultivator —There are few people more 
deeply interested in that species of knowledge, 
which will enable us to detect the cause, and lead 
us to the discovery of means whereby we may de¬ 
lay the decay of timber used in building, than the 
farmer; yet how few there are who pretend to any 
knowledge on the subject, further than the adoption 
of some favorite idea, such as setting fence-posts 
top-end in the ground, or cutting timber at a parti¬ 
cular time in the moon, or charring the lower end 
of fence posts, &e,, without going back further 
than the first step towards the cause, if any exists, 
of the success of a fancy theory. 
Circumstances frequently arise in practice which 
would seem to verify any favorite theory that might 
be adopted. For instance, there are no two adjoin¬ 
ing trees'of the same species, perhaps, that would 
endure the same length of time without decay; nor 
is there any one tree whose parts are all equally 
durable; the top part may be more durable than 
the butt, in one tree; and another in the immediate 
vicinity, of the same kind, but of different age, 
may be precisely the reverse. Hence the various 
conclusions which have been arrived at from expe¬ 
riments without a knowledge of the principles of 
premature decay. 
There is not a month in the year that has not au¬ 
thority for being the best time for felling timber; 
and each author gives philosophical reasons as far 
as they go; but as the business of our philosophy is 
to sustain our conclusions, which have been estab¬ 
lished by experience, and of course, (as we think) 
cannot be wrong, we barely bring a few isolated 
facts as sufficient proof after our experience, to es¬ 
tablish the theory beyond a doubt, when perhaps if 
those same facts were presented in connection with 
others, which would serve to arrange them in their 
proper order, they would sustain quite a different 
conclusion. There is a right place to begin, as all 
good farmers will be inclined to admit, to do any¬ 
thing they have to do, and no one has more to do 
with this subject; which is best considered, by 
seeking to designate that part of, or substance in 
timber, in which decay first commences. This 
has been identified by Mr. Kyan as albumen, 
which he says is the cause of putrefactive fermen¬ 
tation. The celebrated chemist Fourcroy, says 
there are five distinct species of vegetable ferment¬ 
ation; the saccharine, the coloring, the vinous, the 
acetous, and the putrefactive; but none are con¬ 
cerned in premature decay but the putrefactive. If 
then we take Mr. Kyan’s opinion, which seems to 
be generally admitted by all who have observed the 
subject to any extent, we shall arrive at our con¬ 
clusion, that the year and the season of the year in 
which a tree contains the least albumen, is the best 
time to cut it, unless the fibres of the wood have 
been too much weakened by age or disease. All 
timber for durability, should be mature in its growth, 
and if not diseased, it may stand a number of years 
after to advantage, if to guard against decay be 
the main object. 
There is undoubtedly a particular time in the year 
when timber may be cut to favor its durability. In 
the present unsettled state of that point, we may 
locate it in the month of October in this climate, 
for more reasons than have ever been mentioned. 
We have good authority for believing that there is 
in the timber at this season, the smallest quantity 
of albumen and cambium, if not all other organic 
fluids liable to produce that species of fermentation 
which furnishes the acid necessary to unite with the 
albumen to produce the putrefactive fermentation. 
In cutting timber at this season of the year, we have 
the advantage of five or six months of weather cold 
enough to prevent any species of fermentation, or 
the propagation of any species of fungi; which is 
time enough, with proper care, to prevent any in¬ 
herent cause of decay. 
We also have good authority for cutting timber 
in mid-winter; but our own observation will create 
a doubt, when we see a tree with full grown leaves 
in the spring, that had been entirely severed from 
its roots the previous winter. The decay of timber 
is generally accompanied, if not caused, by some 
species of fungi, the spores being attracted by the 
albumen, or perhaps by the action of the albumen 
and acid, which together produce that species of 
fermentation peculiar to decay. Whether this be 
the case or not, it is evident from every day obser¬ 
vation, that the exciting cause of decay in healthy 
timber, is produced by some external influence, 
which enters the pores of the wood where the grains 
have been cut across, more readily than it does l&t- 
