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first o f these purposes, trees m ay be considered as p ro d u cin g timber, fuel, bark , an d
o th er p ro d u c ts ; a n d for the second, a s affording shelter, shade, fences, ornament, o r
Otherwise c o n fe n in g value on territory.
Sect. I. Uses q f Trees individually, as
5708. A tree is employed after it has attained a certain age, bulk, or dimension, either
in civil, military, or naval architecture ; in the construction of machines, implements,
and utensüs ; as fuel ; or as affording tannin or dyeing matter ; as food or medicine for
men or animals ; or as poison for vermin.
5709. For civil architecture the matured timber of the pine and fir tribes is in greatest demand and
foreign deal is generally preferred to British produce, as being of larger growth, and more resinoui and
^ fi f fe Îiré ” fe®;!. species of British timber which approaches the nearest to the pine
V P*"® (-Plnus sylvéstris), when grown in the north highlands,
S L I ? ! eurqpæ a), when grown in hilly or poor districts ; resinous timber of th e splcies in^
H ? Vfem n t countries, when grown on rich soils, and in warm climates, being found deficient in
V ? ré"’ buildings, especially the former, as being of great durability
and as being suitable for wooden bridges, breakwaters, joists in damp situations or on ground floors sills'
wall plates staircases, door and window frames, sashes, &c. Elm is not much used in buildings o f W
mtude, as being apt to twist, and not very durable ; but it makes curiously variegated floors a S d S e p s If
stairs, and very good weather-boarding for sheds and agricultural buildings. It is also much u s S fS-
pumps and water-pipes. Besides timber and timber-like trees for the general purposes of civil architecture,
there are some departments of rural construction, as the formation of fences, drains embankments
trelliswork arbours, and the supporting of plants in gardens, which consume branches, spray thinnings
ol young plantations and even shoots of a year’s growth. Almost any species of tree’ may^be used f S
these purposes ; but the branches and spray of the oak, elm, and beech, th e weedinss of ash or larch
plantations, th e shoots of a few years’ growth of the oak, sweet chestnut, ash. and hazel?and of one year’s
growth of certain species of willow, are greatly preferred. ^
5710. MontorfA recommends home-grown pme and fir timber to be used generally in th e construction
of cottages and other small buildings ;_o_ak and Spanish chestnut for windows, doors, and floorings even
to the best buildings ; ash and elm for joists and roofing ; beech for joists, flooring, and stairs : lime and
W . i¥™ 2 6 T ¥ '^ shutters, inside doors, linings, and finishing of all kinds. (T ran s . Higliland Soc..
5711. For military arcMtecture, by which we mean chiefly the outworks of fortifications, any tre e is
taken ; but the pme and h r tribes are greatly preferred, as requiring less labour in cutting and preparing.
• Besides those of a timber size for constructing bridges, portals, and others of less dimensions for pa-
è» branches, spray, and shoots are used for fascines, and fixed works en haie.
5712. naval architecture the oak is chiefly used. According to Marshall, “ th e keels are now nrettv
generally laid with elm or beech, and p a rt oi the upper decks of men of war is deal : but these woods
bear no proportion, m respect to the quantity used, to the oak. The timbers of a ship are princioallv
crooked, but the planking is cut out of straight pieces. In a seventy-four gun ship, the crooked and
straight pieces used are nearly equal, but the planking under water is of foreign oak ; therefore, of
English oak, th e proportion of crooked to straight pieces is almost two to one. Musts and yards are of deal.
The blockmakers use elm lignnm vitæ, box, and other hard woods. Upon the whole? it may be said,
t h ^ , m the construction of a ship, oak is the only English wood made use o f; and th a t of this English
oak.ne arty two thirds are requisite to be more or less crooked.” (Planting and Rural Ornament,
■ I n ffie construction q f merchant Monteath, in 1820, states, th a t “ the out-keel commonlv
used IS ofbeech or elm, and made generally f two or three trees or pieces joined together to whatever
ré •required ; these require to be nearly straight. The keel-stone, or inner keel, requires trees of
nearly th e same description, but chiefly oak. Floor timbers are sometimes used- of elm and beech and
are a little crooked. F irs t crooks are a good deal crooked towards the one end, as they begin to ascend
up th e vessel, and are more valuable than th e floor timbers, but are also used somètimes of elm and
beech. Upngfat timbers are always made of oak, and are considerably crooked, for elm or beech is
.^Idom put mto a good vessel, except the lower part, where the vessel is always under water when light
l o p timbers are also .of oak, but not so valuable, as they are mostly straight. Beams go u n d e r¥ h e
deck of the vessel, and are also all oak, and have but a small crook, but require trees of considerable
lengty. Knees are always of oak, and are the principal crooks in the vessel. T h e stem piece is a verv
particular crook. Breast hooks also have particular crooks. Stern posts and windlasses are straight
pieces. Trees th at will cut up for planking are used of as great a length as they can be got, and are the
better for having a considerable crook or curve one way ; these are used of elm or beech for planking
g S S P f f i ) required for one of beech or elm for this purpose.” (Forester's
/ J i t ' timber is bent to any foi-m by the use of steam, and other improvements in ship-building ;
and thus the larch or any sound resinous timber may be employed, and is so to a certam extent for commercial
ships. Sir A. Grant, an experienced planter, is of opinion, th a t “ the larch will in a short
p e rio d instead of the oak, bear th e thunder of Britain on her element, the ocean.” (Gen. Rev . o f Scot
vol. 11. P- 270.) In a communication to th e President of th e Board of Agriculture, by Wilson, of London
dated m 1797, the idea is suggested of combining small timbers for all th e purposes of ship-building
He suggests, th a t oak of only thirty-tliree years’ growth by this mode of combining, mav be employed
requisite b y th e old method: and he maintains, th at
ships so built sail faste^ and are less liable to accident. (Gen. R e p .,\o L ü . p. 199.) T h e use of timber
growty has been already introduced in th e construction of masts for the largest vessels,
either by splicing pieces _prqper!y adapted together, or by forming hollow masts from small timber,
which, uniting strength with lightness, have advantages which solid ones do not possess. (P e rrin s and
Money on Smp-building.) "
5715. Matthew, in 1831, has a valuable chapter on th e different descriptions of timber employed in the
construction of vessels. Seppings’s improvements in naval architecture, by which knees and crooked
timber might be nearly superseded, have not yet come into general use, and, according to Matthew, are
n ot likely soon to do so in private building-yards. Nearly two thirds of the timber of all vessels, he says,
consists of curves and bends, but which curves and bends all require to be straight in th e plane of their
¿des. The two grand divisions of the timber used in ship-building are th e plank, or outside and inside
lining, and the ribs or frames, commonly called timbers, which support th e plank. Trees for the production
of planks ought to be trained so as to produce tall, straight, and clean trunks ; trees for the production
of timbers ought to be trained in a variety of curves ; or left unpruned and a t irregular dis-
taiicc^ so that these curves may be produced naturally. (On Naval Timber and Arboriculture, p. S.)
5710. I n the constructwn o f machines, the millwright’s chief materiai is oak. beech, and crab-tree for
cogs ; alder, and sometimes willow, for float-boards ; and fir and oak for shafts and framework The
'»-i
wheelwright uses oak and ash for bodies, axles, and spokes ; elm for naves, fellies, and linings • sometimes
also the softer woods for linings, as poplar, willow, lime, and horsechestnut. The coachmaker uses
more ash than any other sort of timber. Gates are made of oak and deal, and their posts of oak or larch •
the soft woods are sometimes used, but are far from being durable. The sides of ladders are formed
chiellv of deal, or of poplar and willow, as being light ; and th e steps or rounds of oak, as being strong
and durable. Pumps and water-pipes generally of elm and alder ; beech and sycamore are used in
making calenders and cheese-presses, &c. F or all these purposes the timber must be full grown with
some exceptions, as young or root-cut oak and ash for spokes and shafts.
5717. For implements, root-cut ash is in general use for the handles of such as require to bear <reat
stress, as of the spade, fork, mattock, forge hammers, &c. ; willow or deal of the lighter tools, as the hoe
rake, scvthe ; beech and sycamore for th e common tools and instruments of carpenters ; box. holly
elder, &c., for the more select tools of artisans, and for mathematical and gaugers’ instruments
5718. For utensils, under which is included household furniture, the chief British wood used by the
cabinet-maker is beech for bed frames, chairs, and sofas ; next, birch and broad-leaved elm for the same
purposes ; oak for Gothic furniture ; the cherry, plum, holly, yew, box, walnut, lime, poplar, and a great
variety of woods for occasional purposes ; and deal, which last enters more or less into the construction
of almost evety thing he m akes. The musical-instrument maker uses lime, box, yew, holly, plum tree
and poplar. 1 he carver uses chiefly lime, and, next, pine deal. The cooper uses oak and some chestn
u t for large casks and vessels, corn-measures, &c. ; birch and alder for herring-barrel staves, and
sycamore for herring-barrel ends : these woods, since a law passed authorising herrings to be put into
barrels made from British timber, have been in great demand (Monteath) ; ash for dairy utensils butter
firkins, flour barrels, &c. ; oak for well-buckets and water-pails, and, in some places, for milk-pails and
other dairy utensils ; beech is occasionally used for the same purpose, and for soap firkins • and willow
oak, ash. and hazel for hoops. The brushmaker uses beech, sycamore, birch, some holly and box, and
also poplar and lime tree ; locksmiths, the soundest oak, from the root-cut or but-end of the tru n k ’ the
blockmaker, for printing and bleaching works, uses sycamore ; the turner, beech, sycamore, box,’ and
holly ; tru n k and packing-case makers, deal, poplar, elm, or whatever soft wood may be cheapest a t the
time ; coffin-makers use chiefly elm, sometimes oak ; basket-makers, the root shoots o fth e willow and
sometimes of the hazel ; bee-hive and straw utensil makers use th e bramble and willow ; besom-
makers the spray o fth e birch, broom, and h e a th ; last and patten makers, alder and b irc h ; the toy-
maker, hme, and other soft woods, and also box, holly, and yew ; the gunstock-maker uses the wood of
the walnut tree. For most of these purposes, the trees must have attained a timber size, and for some
ot them they should be full grown.
5719. For fuel, any ligneous vegetable may bo used a t any age, and either the body or tru n k and root
Of the plant, or its branches and spray. Resinous trees, except th e larch, afford most flame and may
be used th e soonest after being cut ; the ash next in order ; then th e birch, whose oily bark burns
clear ; oak and elm bum the slowest ; and th e roots of trees are generally of more slow combustion than
their tops. T h e most rapid-growing tree for fuel is the common tree acacia (Robin?« Pseùd-rfcàcia)
Charcoal, as fuel, is prepared by subjecting roots, or the more ligneous parts of branches, to a smothering
combustion.
5720. For affording the tanning principle, th e bark of the oak is chiefly used ; but that of the common
white, or Huntingdon willow (Ñalix alba), larch, black poplar, birch, chestnut, hazel, thorn, and some
other trees, is found to afford it in such quantities as to render it worth while to disbark them for that
purpose. (L a Chimie appliquée à l'Agriculture, p. 89., and Corn, to Board of Agr.) The bark is most
powerful when taken from the tree a t an early age, and hence the oak is cut doivn before it attains a
timber size, for that purpose, as in copscwoods ; but th e bark of old trees is also used.
5721. For dyeing, the bark of several trees was formerly in use, as of the crab-apple, pear, ash alder
&c. The bark o f the quercitron (Quércus tinctòria) is used for dyeing yellow in North America ; but
m this country, foreign materials, as indigo, logwood, madder, &c., have superseded the use of indigenous
or home-grown vegetables. T h e berries of some trees, as o fth e elder, and berry-bearing alder •
and the leaves of others, as of th e walnut and sloe, have also been used for dyeing. ’
5722. I n various arts and manufactures some of the products of trees are used, as the charcoal (of
the dogwood principally) in th a t of gunpowder ; th e pitch of the pine, the resin of the spruce fir and
the turpentine of the larch, for a great variety of purposes. The ashes of th e bu rn t branches of all
trees, but especially of the ash, afford alkali for the laundress ; the spray of the beech and other trees
affords, on distillation, the pyroligneous acid, an excellent preservative of timber, and. when purified a
substitute for salt in preserving butcher meat ; the bark of the holly affords birdlime ; and the leaves of
all trees, except the resinous kinds, ro t into excellent manure for t'he field, and highly prized mould for
the garden.
5723. For food to man, in his present state, the timber trees afford but little resource ; but nuts of the
sweet chestnut, walnut, and hazel are still esteemed, and our ancestors used the acorn, beech mast haw
roan, hip, ancl bramble. A very agreeable drink is made from the sap of the birch tree in Sweden
R u s¿¿_ a n d scime m rts of Britain; and, in America, sugar is obtained from the sugar-maple (rf'cer
sacchannum) in sufficient quantities to be used in domestic economy. Mast and acorns are esteemed
excellent food for swme, haws for deer, and the leaves and spray of many sorts of trees are. or mav be
eaten during wmter both by domestic ancl wild animals. Game, which, in every cultivated country is
one of the greatest luxuries of the table, is localised by plantations, in which both birds and quadrupeds
nnd a t once shelter, security from th eir enemies, and food.
5724. For medicine, the product of scarcely any British tree is in use ; b u t the bark, blossoms, and
berries of the elder, th e fruit of the sloe and crab, and the leaves of the walnut, were formerly in
considerable repute, and are occasionally used : the bark of Sâlix álba is used in cases of ague, instead of
th e bark of Cinchòno. ^ ’
_ 5725. As poisons fo r vermin, the leaves of the walnut, elder, and ash are used by infusion for destroy,
mg, or ra th e r annoying, worms by th e ir bitter acrid quality ; a glutinous snare for entrapping birds is
obtained from the holly and mistletoe. i i g jua 1«
5726. General result. From the above outline it may be inferred, that the timber trees in most general
demand as such, are the oak, pine, and fir tribes ; and n ex t the ash, elm, beech, poplar, willow, birch
sycamore, &c. In the greater number of cases, other things being equal, the oak, larch, Scotch pine
{ish, abele, poplar, and willow, will be found the most profitable trees that can be planted with a view to
timber or bark produce. ^
Sect. IL Uses o f Trees collectively as Plantations.
5727. Trees collectively in a growing state may be useftil by aíFording shelter and improving
the local climate, improving bad soils, and producing shade ; also by separation,
seclusion, distinction, appropriation, concealment of disagreeable objects, liciglitening the
effect of agreeable objects, creating beauty, and adding value prospcctively.
5728. Shelter and climate. The umbrageous roof of the forest afforded shelter, and a secure re trea t to
our savage forefathers ; and their civilised descendants still resort to the nearest tree as a place of shelter
durmg a casual storm. Considered agriculturally, “ tlie advantages to be derived from subdividing
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