fir ft leaves are taken off, the fap reverts, and mixes with
what comes forth at a feeond {hoot ; but i f you take this
off likewife, then, the fap recoils on the bark, and the
heart, and the tree will be glutted by repletion, rather
than ftarved by inanition,, as the labourer imagines.
With refpecl to the method of falling o f timber, it ihould
be done -with particular attention to the trunk, io as to
prevent a further effufionofthe iap,otherwiie a great part
o f that ftrength, which it affords to the trfee, when itCon-
,denies, would be loft. When the tree is felled, it ihould be
carefully placed in fuch a manner, that the two extremities
may reft upon a prop of wood or o f ftorte, two •feet,
at leaft, from the ground, that the air may have a free
circulation. I f it lies on the ground, the moifture would
penetrate on one fide, and it would dry on the other.
Even in its raifed fituation, it will fuffer in fome degree,
as its own ihade will caufe fome alteration, for which
reafon the tree ihould be turned two or three times in
the year, concerning which there are excellent inftruc-
tions laid down by Mr. Duchaniel de Moneeauy and Mr;
de Buffon, the refult o f philofophical obfervations and
repeated experiments^),
(a) While we are bufy in finding fault with Sipaniih ordinances,-let us fer a moment diveft
ourfelves of prejudices, and examine the glaring impropriety of fome o f our ails of parliament
at home. The cutting down of the oak timber in the fpring o f the year, when the bark
will eafily part from the wood, as it -is. now generally pra&ifed in England, .is .aftb, according
to Mr. Miller, a very great abfurdity, for4 the fap of the trees being at that time in full motion
in all their veffels, the timber foon after cutting is cracked and torn inTnany places when
Many eoniiderable advantages will enfue from a due
obfervation of t'hefe principles, and ma ybqapplied to
the purpofe o f ihip builders and carpenters ; from thefe
premifes we may conceive the reafon, that; of two houfes
built by the fame architect, one fhall be folid, and remain
in a due perpendicular, while the walls of the other fhall
give way by the dilation or contraftion o f the beams ;
from hence we may perhaps be able to' rclplve that curious
problem, r which has been propofed to all the geometricians
in Europe, to find out, why two {hips, built
by the fame perfori, on fimilar principles and menfura-
-tion, with timber from the fame place, and cut at the
fame time, one fhall go like the wind, and the other
fhall bo the dulleft of failers. One ihall come home
tight, and in good condition, from a long voyage, and the
other fo leaky, that the pumps muft be kept conftanly
going. For my part, as I conceive that the dilatation
o f a beam, may throw a wall out of equilibriu m, I imagine
that the fame effeits, ailing upon various bodies of
expofed to the air, and will not Iaft a fourth part of the time, as that, which is cut in winter,
when the fap is thickened, and at reft; -yet there is an a61 of parliament to oblige every one
to cut their timber at that feafon fot the fake of the bark. — See Miller’s Gardeners Di6l. preface
to folio edition, London, 1759.
‘Does not the following paffage from the fame atithor, fpeaking of the French, breathe the
fpirit of a true patriot, as well as a philofopher. 11 They do not negle& the culture of their
own ufeful timber trees, particularly the oak, for as they teem to be very much in earneft to
improve and increafe their marine, they are purfuing feveral fchemes, which in time will enable
them to carry their point. Surely then this ihould not be negle&ed in Great Britain, as
the welfare of this country principally depends on its ihipping and commerce.”
A a timber,