CHAPTER III.

FELLING TIMBER.

The end to be attained in the management of timber trees is to produce from a given number the largest possible amount of sound and durable woods. When a tree, under conditions favourable to its growth, ceases increasing the diameter of its trunk, and loses its foliage earlier in the autumn than it is wont to do, and when the top of the tree brings forth no leaves in spring, these facts may be considered as indications of decline, and that the tree is of sufficient age to be felled. The state of the upper branches of a tree may be considered to be amongst the best indications of its soundness, and provided they be in a healthy condition, the withering of the lower branches is a matter of comparatively small importance.

Trees may be considered as tall, middle rank, and low, and the size to which they will attain depends on many different circumstances. Some trees, the stems of which are short on the average, as the lime, are virtually of tall growth, from the manner in which a number of vertical branches of large size ascend from the stem. And other trees, again, whose branches are comparatively short, are of tall growth, in consequence of the length of the stems--like the beech.

The average duration of trees differs, as is well known, in different species, and they exhibit different symptoms of decay. There are oaks in Windsor Great Park, certainly nearly one thousand years old, and which exhibit even now no appearance of approaching the end of their life. Mr. Menzies, the surveyor, in his work on Windsor Great Park, describes some of the indications of incipient decay which are peculiar to the several kinds of trees. “When a beech begins to fail,” he says, “fungi appear either at the roots or on the forks, the leaves curl up as if they had been scorched, and the tree quickly perishes. In an elm, a great limb first fails, while the rest of the tree continues green and vigorous, but in a few years the whole tree suddenly dies. Coniferous trees die gradually, but quickly. The oak shows the first symptoms at the points of its highest branches, while the rest of the tree will remain healthy and sound for years.” This peculiarity of the oak did not escape the eye of Shakespere, that universal observer, who describes the monarch of the woods as not only having its boughs mossed with age, but its

“High top bald with dry antiquity.”

The age for felling trees is a subject which calls for the deepest consideration, but does not always receive that attention which is due to its importance. Timber growers in their haste to supply the market, too often fell trees that have not arrived at maturity, the heart-wood being therefore imperfect, with much sap-wood, and, of course, little durability; but unfortunately they are the more readily led to do so on account of the increase in size being very slow after a certain age. Builders are sensible of the inferior quality of young timber in respect to duration, and it is their province to check this growing evil, by giving a better price for timber that has acquired a proper degree of density and hardness; but, unfortunately, this is an age for cheap building, without much regard being given as to durability.

Felling should not be too early, for the reasons above mentioned; neither should it be in the decline of the tree, when its elasticity and vigour are lost, and the wood becomes brittle, tainted, and discoloured, with the pith gone, and the heart in progress of decay. Maturity is the period when the sap-wood bears a small proportion, and the heart-wood has become uniform and compact. Sir John Evelyn writes, “It should be in the vigour and perfection of trees, that a felling should be celebrated.” It must be obvious, however, that it is a worse fault to fell wood before it has acquired thorough firmness, than when it is just in the wane, and its heart may exhibit but the first symptoms of decay; for in the former there is no perfect enduring timber to be got, while in the latter the greater part is in the zenith of its strength.

Although there are certain symptoms by which it may be ascertained when a tree is on the decline, it is somewhat difficult to decide just when a tree is at maturity. From the investigations of naturalists, however, it may be safe to consider that hard-wood trees, as oak and chestnut, should never be cut before they are sixty years old, the average age for felling being from eighty to ninety years, and the average quantity of timber produced by a tree of that age is about a load and a half, or about 75 cubic feet.

Daviller states (see ‘Cours d’Architecture’) “that an oak should not be felled at a less age than sixty years.” Belidor considers (see ‘Sciences des Ingénieurs’) “that one hundred years is the best age for the oak to be felled.”

It should be remembered that the times mentioned are by no means arbitrary, for situation, soil, &c., have much to do with it. For the soft woods, as the Norway spruce and Scotch pine in Norway, the proper age is between seventy and one hundred years. The ash, larch, and elm, may be cut when the trees are between fifty and ninety years old; and between thirty and fifty years is a proper age for poplars.

The felling of timber was looked upon by ancient architects as a matter of much moment. According to Vitruvius, the proper time for felling is between October and February, and he directs that the trees should be cut to the pith, and then suffered to remain till the sap be drained out. The effusion of the sap prevents the decay of the timber, and when it is all drained out, and the wood becomes dry, the trees are to be cut down, when the wood will be excellent for use. A similar effect might be produced by placing the timber on its end as soon as it is felled, and it would, no doubt, compensate for the extra expense by its durability in use. In France, so long ago as 1669, a royal order limited the felling of naval timber from the 1st October to 15th April, when the “wind was at north,” and “in the wane of the moon.” Buonaparte directed that the time for felling naval timber should be “in the decrease of the moon, from 1st November to 15th March,” in order to render it more durable. In England, in the first year of James I., there was an Act of Parliament prohibiting every one from cutting oak timber, except in the barking season, under a severe penalty.

James I. was not the only English sovereign who has been concerned with timber trees; for King John was obliged to cancel at Runnemede the cruel forest laws enacted by his father, William the Conqueror, especially those restricting the people from fattening their hogs.

Up to a recent period large droves of hogs were fattened upon the acorns of the New Forest in Hampshire. At the present time the hogs of Estremadura are principally fed upon the acorns of the _Ballota_ oak; and to this cause is assigned the great delicacy of their flesh.

A Berkshire labourer, living near Windsor Forest, thus speaks of the delicacy of acorn-fed pork: “Well, that be pretty like the thing. I hadn’t tasted the like o’ that this many a day. It is so meller--when you gets your teeth on it, you thinks you has it; but afore you knows where you is, ain’t it wanished!”

There is another point in connection with the time of felling timber, which ought to be noticed. It is a widespread opinion that trees should be felled during the wane of the moon. This planetary influence is open to doubt, but the opinion prevails wherever there are large forests. Columella, Cato, Vitruvius, and Pliny, all had their notions of cutting timber at certain ages of the moon. The wood-cutters of South America act upon it, so do their brethren in the German forests, in Brazil, and in Yucatan. It was formerly interwoven in the Forest Code of France, and, we believe, is so still. Vitruvius recommends this custom, and we find Isaac Ware writing of the suggestion: “This has been laughed at, and supposed to be an imaginary advantage. There may be good in following the practice; there can be no harm: and therefore, when I am to depend upon my timber, I will observe it.” The Indian wood-cutters believe that timber is much more liable to decay, if cut when the moon is in crescent.

An American writer, in 1863, thus writes of his experience in the matter: “Tradition says that the ‘old’ of the moon, in February, is the best time to cut timber; but from more than twenty years of observation and actual experience, I am fully convinced it is about the worst time to cut most, if not all kinds of hard-wood timber. Birch, ash, and most or all kinds of hard wood will invariably _powder-post_ if cut any time in the fall after the tree is frozen, or before it is thoroughly leaved out in the spring of the year. But if cut after the sap in the tree is used up in the growth of the tree, until freezing weather again comes, it will in no instance produce the _powder-post_ worm. When the tree is frozen, and cut in this condition, the worm first commences its ravages on the inside film of the bark, and then penetrates the wood until it destroys the sap part thereof. I have found the months of August, September, and October, to be the three best in the year to cut hard-wood timber. If cut in these months, the timber is harder, more elastic, and durable than if cut in winter months. I have, by weighing timber, found that of equal quality got out for joiners’ tools is much heavier when cut and got out in the above-named months than in the winter and spring months, and it is not so liable to crack. You may cut a tree in September, and another in the ‘old’ of the moon in February following, and let them remain, and in one year from the cutting of the first tree, you will find it sound and unhurt, while the one last cut is scarcely fit for firewood, from decay. Chestnut timber for building will last longest, provided the bark be taken off. Hemlock and pine ought to be cut before being hard frozen, although they do not _powder-post_; yet if they are cut in the middle of winter, or in the spring of the year, and the bark is not taken off, the grub will immediately commence its ravages between the bark and the wood. I have walnut timber on hand which has been cut from one to ten years, with the bark on, which was designed for ox-helves and ox-bows, and not a worm is to be found therein; it was cut between 1st August and 1st November. I have other pieces of similar timber cut in the winter months, not two year’s old, and they are entirely destroyed, being full of _powder-post_ and grub-worms.”

What shall we say when doctors disagree? The theory given to account for what is assumed to be a fact, is, that as the moon grows the sap rises, and the wood, therefore is less dense than when the moon is waning, because at that time the sap in the tree diminishes. No evidence whatever can be offered in support of the theory, and one would certainly imagine that the rise or fall of the sap would depend on the quantity of heat which reaches the foot of the tree, and not at all on attraction.

All investigations tend to prove that the only proper time for felling timber is that at which the tree contains the least sap. There are two seasons in each year when the vessels are filled. One is in spring, when the fluid is in motion to supply nutriment to the leaves, and deposit material for new wood; the other is in the early part of autumn, when, after the stagnation which gives the new wood time to dry and harden, it again flows to make the vegetable deposits in the vessels of the wood. At neither of these times should trees be felled; for, if the pores be full of vegetable juices, which being acted upon by heat and moisture may ferment, the wood will decay. Of the two periods, the spring must be the worst, because the wood then contains the greatest quantity of matter in a state fit for germination.

The results of a series of experiments made in Germany show that December-cut wood allows no water to pass through it longitudinally; January-cut wood passed in forty-eight hours a few drops; February-cut wood let two quarts of water through its interstitial spaces in forty-eight hours; March-cut wood permitted the same to filter through in two and a half hours. Hence the reasons why barrels made from wood cut in March or April are so leaky, as the sap is then rising, and the trees are preparing to put forth their leaves.

It thus happens that the time for felling is midsummer or midwinter. The best time for felling, according to some, is midsummer, when the leaves are fully expanded, and the sap has ceased to flow, and the extraneous vegetable matter intended for the leaves has been dislodged from the trunk of the tree by the common sap, leaving it in a quiescent state, and free from that germinative principle which is readily excited by heat and moisture, and if the timber were cut while it remained, would subject it to rapid decay and to operations of worms. Midwinter, amongst some, is chosen as a time for felling, as it is stated that winter-felled heart-wood is less affected by moisture, and likely to be the best and most durable; but as the only peculiar recommendation which that time possesses is the facility which it affords for gradual seasoning, by which timber is rendered less liable to split and get distorted, and slow drying being generally available at any season under shade and shelter, midsummer appears for many obvious reasons the most expedient. In general, all the soft woods, such as elm, lime, poplar, willow, should be felled during winter. In some kinds of trees a little after midsummer appears to be decidedly the best time for felling. Alder felled at that time is found to be much more durable; and Ellis observes, that beech when cut in the middle of summer is bitter, and less liable to be worm-eaten, particularly if a gash be cut to let out the sap some time before felling. Mr. Knowles states that, “About Naples, and in other parts of Italy, oaks have been felled in summer, and are said to have been very durable.” Most of the trees in southern Italy are felled in July and August, and the pines in the German forests are cut down mostly in summer time, and it is stated that their wood is sound.

The following are advocates for winter felling, viz. Cato, Pliny, Vitruvius, Alberti, Hesiod, De Saussure, Evelyn, Darwin, and Buonaparte. Some of them consider that winter-felled timber, which has been barked and notched in the previous spring, loses much of that half-prepared woody matter, containing seeds of fungi, &c., that there is no doubt of its superiority to summer-felled timber.

The age at which trees should be felled, and the most suitable time for the work having been determined, there are two other things which claim attention.

The _first_ of these is the removal of the bark from the trunk and principal branches of the tree. For, in oak trees, the bark is too valuable to be lost; and as the best period for the timber is the worst for the bark, an ingenious method has been long partially practised, which not only secures the bark at the best season, but also materially improves the timber. This method consists in taking the bark off the standing tree early in the spring, and not felling it till after the new foliage has put forth and died. This practice has been considered of inestimable value; for by it the sap-wood is rendered as strong and durable as the heart-wood; and in some particular instances experiments have shown it to be four times as strong as other wood in all respects similar, and grown on the same soil, but felled with the bark on and dried in sheds. Buffon, Du Hamel, and, in fact, most naturalists, have earnestly recommended the practice. Evelyn states, “To make excellent boards, bark your trees in a fit season, and let them stand naked a full year before felling.”

In regard to the time that should elapse between the removal of the bark and the felling of a tree, a variety of opinions exist. It was the usual custom of early architects to remove the bark in the spring, and fell the trees during the succeeding winter. Later investigations seemed to have proved that it is better to perform the work three or even four years in advance, instead of one, although Tredgold appears to think one year too long. Trees will, in most situations, continue to expand and leaf out for several seasons after the bark has been removed. The sap remaining in the wood gradually becomes hardened into woody substance, thereby closing the sap vessels and making it more solid. As bark separates freely from the wood in spring, while the sap is in motion, it should be taken off at that period. When the above method is not adopted, it is well either to pierce the trunk some time before felling to drain out the sap, or immediately on its being felled to set it on end.

The _second_ suggestion is, to cut into and around the entire trunk of the tree, near the roots, so that the sap may be discharged; for in this manner it will be done more easily than it can be by evaporation after the tree is felled. In addition to this, if it be permitted to run out at the incision, a large portion of the new and fermentable matter will pass out with it, which would remain in the wood if only such material is removed as would pass off by evaporation. This cutting should be made in the winter previous to the August in which the tree is to be felled; and the incision should be made as deep into the heart-wood as possible without inducing a premature fall of the tree.

The custom of ringing or girdling the tree before felling has been advocated, on the ground that the seasoning is thereby expedited, and also more thoroughly effected. This is doubtful, at least, in oil-containing trees (as teak, &c.), but the practice appears to be contra-indicated for other reasons: when a tree has been ringed, many wood-cutters object to cut it down on account of its increased hardness. This objection might be waived, were it not for another and more serious one which has been adduced. It is believed to be a fact by some that trees felled after girdling have the heart shake increased. It is difficult to explain this, if it be actually the case.

Many suggestions might be made as regards the mechanical operation of felling trees, with which ancient nations were not unfamiliar:

… “for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.”--1 Kings v. 6.

But as these operations are familiar to all intelligent workmen, it is only necessary to mention one, viz. the value of removing from the side of the tree such branches as will strike the ground when it falls, and, by wrenching, cleave the grain of the wood, and thereby injure the timber. Such defects, which are often found after the timber has been seasoned, could not be discovered when it left the mill.

In conclusion, we can truly state that the most extensive felling of trees for _one building_ only which we have ever heard or read of is the following:

“And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains.”--1 Kings v. 15.