Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1859-08-10
Tor The Chronic!e.I
Cutting Fence and Building Timber.

Cutting Fence and Building Timber.
MEssRs. EDrroRs: Some few years since
yuu published an account of experiments
which l had made relative to the best tine
of cutting timber.
/ saw in your paper Of June lat, 1859,
a letter from a practical farmer to the
Germantown pa Telegraph. My expe-
rience leads me to believe that writer is in
error. He refers to but one experiment
actually made, whle l have made expert
mcnts for the last twenty years. l think
l can produce better evidence of the hest
time to cut timber than to say, "cut when
fullest of sap" The reason the writer
gives for cutting when full of sap, is the
bar; will readily peel off, and leave the
timber to season Qhaving reference to rails.
My experience teaches me. when timber Is
3.elled III August. the bark sticks fast, for
two or three years. This l admit. but do
not admit that the bark has a tendency to
rot the timber, but my experience teaches
me tlat it preserves it.
l have white oak timber that was cat
in August, for sills and posts for a barn.
The trees lay as felled for over four years,
when We hcwcd it; the bark fell off at
touch, and even the sap part was as sound
as when felled. and the surface as blue and
sound as the point Of a steers horn An
other reason for cutting in August, is,
worms will not modest it. Again, what
farmer does not know that the tops and
limbs of white oak trees cut in August will
last and be sound two or three years.
! have taken a small limb the size Of a
mans finger, after it had been cut two
years, and twisted it into a withc. Again,
when seasoned, it will be much heavier,
making it mere valuable for all purposes.
Oak timber, when felled green in August,
such as is not good for rails, with the larg-
or limbs, makes the best of ground chunks
for rail fence. and will pay for making
/ have some fence made ten years since,
| with this kind of ground chunks PLACED
under it, and | do not expect ever TO place
others in their stead. / would fell that
which | designed for fire wood in August,
We're it not that enough falls of itself for
that purpose, and if not used. is soon lost,
except when it happens to fall in August;
in that case l have no doubt that it will
keep sound three times as long as when cut
when fullest of sap. / was led to make
experiments some ten years since, from an
account published in the Louisville Journal,
in which the writer says: When this
country was new, ~forty-fve years since, VIC
settled here in August. throwed together a
log cabin, and being six or. eight young
men in the family, We went to clearing;
cleared off and sowed forty acres to wheat,
that fall; and cut much more timber in
August than was wanted for fencing."-
The writer says: Al am still in possession
of the farm, and timber of the same grade,
white oak, cut when fullest of sap, made in
rails and fence, cut twenty years after those
cut in August, are now worthless, and gone
down to the ground; while those cut first,
and in August, forty-fve years since, make
a tolerable fence yet"
\ ship carpenter writing TO the Com,
Csurant, says-h he built a vessel, giving the
tine Of year the timber was cut, it Icing
some tine in the spring; he afterwards
was called to examine her main timbers
and make repairs if practicable. He did
so, found her main timbcrs worthless, and
condemned her. Thence he adds: Fell
all timber that you wish to last, from the
18th Of July to the last Of August, and a
stick three feet in diameter will season
through before the sap will rot it.
As to cutting timber when fullest of sap,
say hickory, the worms will destroy it in
three months time; so too if cut in Sel-
TENDER, December, or at any time save
, August.
The writer in the Germantown paper
says that timber cut when fullest of sap
would last because the bark would readily
peal off. That is 4 damage to the timber
it leaves it to crack-those cracks let in
water, and of course the timber o rots.
When felled in August, the bark never
makes it rot, but preserves it from rot. If
any one should doubt this, let them call on
me, and l will endcavor to convince him by
ocular demonstration, as | have some of
different kinds that has been cut three
years, and the bark is now or.
JOHN CROY.
Braccyillc, August, 1859.