The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-04-01
How 10 Dig Up Timber.TreeS.

THE butt-end of large timber tree is
usually much firmer and tougher timber
than the wood which grows thirty or forty
feet, or even twenty-fiv feet from the
ground. When cutting down large
white oak, for example, the timber left in
the stump, and that which is wasted by
means of a large kerf, had the tree been
dug up, would have made more than five
dollars worth Of the very choicest kind Of
spoke-timber. Or, had the log been sawed
into plank or scantling for farm nipple
ments, the amount OF tirst-rate tOaQh tim
Der saved by digging up the tree would be
equivalent, in dollars and cents, to much
more than the extra expense Of telling the
tree by digging it up.
Every skillful mechanic understands that
the extreme butt-end of tough timber
tree, of any kind, is always much more
valuable for any purpose than timber out
of the same tree farther from the butt-end.
For making whitiletrces, neck yokes, fork
handles, and for hundred other purposes.
when heavy and tough timber is exceed
ingly desirable, it will pay satisfactorily TO
dig up the trees rather than to fell them
with axes. More than this the labor
required to dig up large tree will not be
so very expensive, provided the operator
begins right and manages skillfully.
1t is frequently desirable to dig up
white oak trees to be sawed into plank for
sleigh-runners. The first important con-
sideration is to find tree that is not de-
fective at the heart, and that will yield
plank having an excellent natural
crook We will suppose for example
that the crook is on the north
side of the tree. Now, in order
to avoid the mistake that most labor
ers make when digging down large
tree, by letting it fall without a large
fulcrum near the butt to lift the roots
out of the ground, let a log ten or more
feet long be placed on the south side of
the standing tree, about eight feet from
the butt A log, foot or more in diane
ter, elevated on blocks, so as to be two
feet high, will lift the roots clean from the
ground, as the tree falls, and thus save
much heavy labor.
Now, when the north wind blows flu
rious gale, let the digging and cutting of
the roots be done. Excavate on the south
side first, and cut off all the brace roots.
Then the tree will fall in the desired
place. Now remove the earth for two
feet in depth, if the brace-roots or the
cooks'cxtend to that depth, before using
digger will lay the roots bare, so that one
can see at glance where to chop most
advantagcously.
AS the timber is very tough in the
crook of the brace-roots, the tree can be
felled with less labor by excavating the
earth to such an extent that the chopping
may be done in the roots, which may al
ways be chopped more easily than tie
timber above the surface of the ground.
AS the tree falls, the advantage of large
fulcrum will be apparent, as it will lift the
butt-roots and all--clcan from the
ground, with the sleigh crook upward,
where it always should be. But, when a
large fulcrum is not employed, digging up
tree is laborious task, which most men
dislike. If these directions be followed,
the Job will be comparatively easy and by
no means difficult-IearM and Home.