7 ° 
TIMBER AND TIMBER TREES, [chap. xi. 
affording a strong presumption that they were both 
built on the same principles. 
“ The ‘ Hawke* sloop was built in 1793, one half of 
timber barked in the spring and felled in the winter, and 
the other half of timber felled at the usual time in spring. 
Ten years later she was in such a general state of decay 
that she was taken to pieces, no difference being then 
observable in the condition of her several timbers.” 
“ At first view,” Mr. Bowden observes, “ this experi¬ 
ment appears to decide the fate of the system ; but it must 
be remarked that the timber was barked standing in the 
spring of 1787, and not felled until the autumn of 1790, a 
period of three and a half years ; and further, that if we 
were to inquire into the probable duration of such timber, 
we might discover, perhaps, that it is in an inverse ratio 
to the time the trees may stand after being barked ; and 
therefore, this ship was in precisely the same state at the 
end of ten years as we might reasonably have expected.” 
