Chapter VIII: Section II: Timbers (3)

From the softness of the fibre and want of {101} density of the larch, we would not deem it suitable for planking vessels beyond the size of ordinary merchantmen, say 500 tons, as in the straining of very large vessels, when the greatest force comes upon the outward skin, the fabric of the wood might crush before it, along the edge of the plank, and throw (chew) the oakum. In ordinary sized vessels, however, larch plank retains the oakum better than oak, from greater lateral elasticity. For the purpose of timbers, if root-cuts[24], and properly bent, we would think larch suitable to the largest class of vessels; as, though light, it is tough and quite free from knot, crack, or cross-grain, which is so common in oak, and which occasions dense old oak in large masses to give way at once, before a shock or strain, the hardness and unyielding nature of the fibre concentrating the whole dirupting impetus to one point. Larch may also be advantageously employed in the ceiling or inside skin of the part of war vessels above water: shot bores it, comparatively, like an auger,—thence the structure will endure longer under fire, and life be much economized.

In all places where larch has become known, it has completely superseded other timber for {102} clinker-built boats, surpassing all others in strength, lightness, and durability. For this purpose, young trees of about 9 inches diameter, in root-cuts from 10 to 20 feet in length, with a gentle bend at one end, such as the larch often receives from the south-west wind, are the most suitable. The log should be kept in the bark till used, and in dry weather the boards put upon the boat’s side within two or three days from being sawn out, as no timber we are acquainted with parts sooner with its moisture than larch; and the boards do not work or bend pleasantly when dry. When dried, the thin larch board is at once strong, tough, durable, and extremely light. The tough strength, almost equalling leather, is owing to the woven or netted structure of the fibre of the wood, entirely different from the pine, whose reedy structure runs parallel with very slight connecting or diverging fibres. It is very difficult to split larch even by wedges.

For rural purposes generally, larch is incomparably the best adapted timber, especially for rail or fence, or out-door fabric exposed to wind and weather. It is also getting into use for implements of husbandry, such as harrows, ploughs, and carts. We have seen a larch upright paling, the timber of which, with the exception of the large charred posts, {103} had only been eight years in growing, standing a good fence, sixteen years old, decked out by moss and lichen in all the hoary garniture of time.

In the construction of buildings, larch is valuable only for the grosser parts, as beams, lintels, joists, couples. For the finer boarded part, it is so much disposed to warp, and so difficult to be worked, as generally to preclude use. It is, however, asserted that if larch be seasoned by standing two years with the bark stripped from the bole before being cut down, that the timber becomes manageable for finer house work.

Although larch timber be extremely durable in exposed situation, yet it yields to the depredations of insects fully as soon as any pine timber in close houses. We have proof of it in house-furniture about 50 years old, but it is considerably moth-eaten by apparently a smaller insect than common. Larch stools also disappear in forests sooner than the stools of Scots fir, being eaten by a species of beetle; and the sea-worm devours larch in preference to almost any other wood.

We have looked over some experiments conducted at Woolwich, in trial of the comparative strength of larch and other fir timber, where the larch is stated inferior to Riga and Dantzic fir, Pitch pine, {104} and even Yellow pine. Larch, in the districts of Scotland where it is grown and much in use, is universally allowed to be considerably stronger than other fir; and the sawyers of it have one-fourth more pay per stated measure. We, ourselves, have had considerable experience of the strength of larch applied to many purposes, and have found it in general much superior in strength to other fir. We have known a crooked topmast of this timber, to which the sailors bore a grudge, defy their utmost ingenuity to get carried away. We once had four double horse-carts, made (excepting the wheels) of peeled young larch of rather slow growth, for the carriage of large stones; these, by mistake, were made very slight, so light, that, without the wheels, a man could have carried one of them away. When we saw the first loading of stones nearly a ton weight each, two in each cart, and the timber yielding and creaking like a willow-basket, we did not expect they would have supported the weight and jostlings of a rugged road many yards; yet they withstood this coarse employment for a long time. The timber of larch near the top of the tree is, however, very inferior and deficient in toughness; and it is not improbable that the experiments above alluded to at Woolwich had been made with larch {105} timber deficient in strength from being a top. White larch has comparatively smaller and more numerous branches than any other of the Coniferæ; consequently the timber is freer of large knots, and has more equable strength, as well in small spars as when large and cut out into joists and beams, provided the timber be not too far up the tree. _Larch, however, compared with pines and firs, has the timber much stronger when young, and several inches or below a foot in diameter, than when old and large_: this may partly be owing to its deficiency in resinous deposit.

ENDNOTES TO PART II.

[10] We have often preferred the terms kind, breed, family, individual, to genus, species, variety, subvariety, as the former seem less definite. Were nature true to the latter classification as employed by botanists, it would be convenient.

[11] In those we observed, we considered this last circumstance had a considerable share as a predisposing cause of the attack of the worm. Forests of _Pinus sylvestris_ are sometimes destroyed by insects under the bark, in cases where it is difficult to decide whether external circumstances, such as a dry warm season, has been promotive of the increase of the insect itself, or has induced some disorder in the plant, rendering the juices more suitable aliment to the worm.

[12] Some nautical or technical terms have unavoidably crept into this work; we shall not presume to think any explanation necessary: Britannia would blush _jusqu’au blanc des yeux_, to the _tips_ of the fingers and toes, did she think it were doubted that any of her sons, not doomed to unceasing mechanical labour, were unacquainted with these.

[13] It is termed by our professors _Salix fragilis_, or Crack Willow, from the small branches breaking easily at the junction of the annual growth—or, perhaps, Crack Willow, from the branches breaking with considerable report; or from the wood, while burning, frequently detonating or crackling, from the expansion of some aërial fluid within the fibres. Though named by their sapience _fragilis_, it is not weaker than other large growing willows, but stronger and denser; and, being harder in the small branches, they do not bend, but break when their bark and alburnum is driest, in winter. The timber is superior to that of _Salix alba_, or of any other large growing willow we are acquainted with, and is sufficiently pliant and tough.

[14] Red Canadian pine is generally termed _Pinus resinosa_; but as it is not so resinous as several other kinds, we consider _Pinus rubra_ (_rubra_ from the colour of stem and also of timber), which is sometimes used, more suitable. The pitch pine of the American United States should be _Pinus resinosa_.

[15] We think that in mankind the variations of the children of the same parents do not soften entirely—there would seem to be certain types or nuclei both of appearance and temperament around which external and internal character vibrates.

[16] The Canadian red pine resembles P. sylvestris or Norway pine so much, that it is usually styled Norway pine by the settlers: Though different, it is so nearly allied to P. sylvestris, that we consider the number of sap-growths may be referred to the climate and soil, and not to the kind,—that is, that, were it grown in Britain, if it did not at first, it would in the course of time come to have fewer sap-growths.

[17] Our common larch, like almost every other kind of tree, consists of numberless varieties, which differ considerably in quickness of growth, ultimate size, and value of timber. This subject has been much neglected. We are, however, on the eve of great improvements in arboriculture; the qualities and habits of varieties are just beginning to be studied. It is also found that the uniformity in each kind of wild growing plants called _species_, may be broken down by art or culture, and that when once a breach is made, there is almost no limit to disorder; the _mele_ that ensues being nearly incapable of reduction.

[18] There is yet no sufficient data for the term alpine plant, but with reference to latitude. The influence on vegetables, arising from rarefaction and diminution of pressure of atmosphere, from difference of stimulus of solar ray—when the entire ray of light, heat, and chemical power, though less intense, is radiated fresh, and not much broken or modified by refraction and reflection, and heat communicated more in proportion by radiation than by contact of heated air; or from difference of electric or galvanic or other meteoric impression connected with altitude or ranges of mountains, or with primary rocks or more upright strata, has not been made the subject of research, at least has not been sufficiently investigated by any naturalist.

[19] When water is stationary, either in the pores of the soil or by itself, if the temperature be not very low, a slight putrefaction generally commences, aided by the dead vegetable or animal matter contained in the soil or the water; and it is only the more robust aquatic vegetables whose juices are not corrupted, from their roots being soaked in this tainted fluid. It would appear, too, that the aqueous part of the atmosphere is also susceptible of the same putrid changes, although in general the putrescency may have commenced before the evaporation. This condition of the aqueous part of the atmosphere is a disposing cause to blight or mildew in vegetables, and remittent, intermittent, and putrid fevers in man. Mill-ponds are notorious both for mildew and agues.

[20] We have had no experience of larch, excepting very young, growing on chalk and its affinities. We are told there are a few instances where larch has reached 50 years in these calcareous soils, some distance south of London. This merits attention.

[21] “Oh! the bonny blooming heather.”—“Man has spoken evil things of the sun, of love, and of life.”

[22] As we held this plan of forming larch knees, and of bending larch, of considerable importance, we some time ago presented it in manuscript, along with some other matter, to the Highland Society of Scotland. Tiring, however, of the delay of examination, perhaps unavoidable in their official departments, and from some improvements occurring to us during the delay, we requested it back. We now present it under this more convenient form to the Society, and hope they will find the examination or perusal of it printed, not quite so impracticable as when in manuscript. It will afford us pleasure to know that this useful Society approves, and that the members who have opportunity are setting about following our directions. We especially recommend to them to probe the roots of their growing larch, and to lay bare those fitted for knees.

[23] The landlord agriculturist is sufficiently aware of the influence of the baring the upper part of the root of turnip, while the plant is young, in extending the future growth of the bulb, and that a dry situation gives most root in proportion to stem. These are general laws in vegetation. There are few observers who have not remarked the very large size which roots have attained when the trees have originally been planted on dikes, and the dike earth removed, leaving the roots bare. Should any person examine the very great difference of thickness between the upper and lower part, from the heart of a root near the bulb, he will at once discover the influence of exposure to the air and freeness from pressure in promoting the swelling.

[24] As you ascend the tree the timber deteriorates greatly.

{106} PART III.

MISCELLANEOUS MATTER CONNECTED WITH NAVAL TIMBER.

NURSERIES.

Much of the luxuriance and size of timber depending upon the particular variety of the species, upon the treatment of the seed before sowing, and upon the treatment of the young plant, and as this fundamental subject is neither much attended to nor generally understood, we shall take it up _ab initio_.

The consequences are now being developed of our deplorable ignorance of, or inattention to, one of the most evident traits of natural history, that vegetables as well as animals are generally liable to an almost unlimited diversification, regulated by climate, soil, nourishment, and new commixture of already formed varieties. In those with which man is most intimate, and where his agency in throwing them from their natural locality and dispositions has brought out this power of diversification in stronger shades, it has been forced upon his notice, as in man himself, in the dog, horse, cow, sheep, poultry,—in the apple, {107} pear, plum, gooseberry, potato, pea, which sport in infinite varieties, differing considerably in size, colour, taste, firmness of texture, period of growth, almost in every recognisable quality. In all these kinds man is influencial in preventing deterioration, by careful selection of the largest or most valuable as breeders; but in timber trees the opposite course has been pursued. The large growing varieties being so long of coming to produce seed, that many plantations are cut down before they reach this maturity, the small growing and weakly varieties, known by early and extreme seeding, have been continually selected as reproductive stock, from the ease and conveniency with which their seed could be procured; and the husks of several kinds of these invariably kiln-dried[25], in order that the seeds might be the more easily extracted! May we, then, wonder that our plantations are occupied by a sickly short-lived puny race, incapable of supporting existence in situations where their own kind had formerly flourished—particularly evinced in the genus {108} Pinus, more particularly in the species Scots fir; so much inferior to those of Nature’s own rearing, where only the stronger, more hardy, soil-suited varieties can struggle forward to maturity and reproduction?

We say that the rural economist should pay as much regard to the breed or particular variety of his forest trees, as he does to that of his live stock of horses, cows, and sheep. That nurserymen should attest the variety of their timber plants, sowing no seeds but those gathered from the largest, most healthy, and luxuriant growing trees, abstaining from the seed of the prematurely productive, and also from that of the very aged and over-mature; as they, from animal analogy, may be expected to give an infirm progeny, subject to premature decay.

As, from many facts, a considerable influence is known to result in several vegetables from drying severely the seeds from whence they had sprung[26],—from exposure of these seeds to the sun and air,—from long keeping, or from injury by mould or {109} impure air, which all tend to shorten the life of the resulting individual, to accelerate the period of its seeding, and to increase its reproductiveness; the nurseryman should pay the utmost attention to the seeds he makes use of, procuring them as recent as possible, and preserving them in well-aired lofts, or under sheds, and also retaining them in the husks till the time of sowing: the superior germinating power of the seed thus treated will repay this attention.

From facts we are also assured, that, in some hard wood kinds, and also in the Coniferæ, the hanging of the growth of the young plant, the spindling up in the seed-bed, or injudicious deterring treatment afterwards, have a tendency to injure the constitution of the individual, inducing premature seeding, and diminutive old age; and also, that when plants, especially of some size, of these kinds of trees have their roots much broken, the secondary or new roots often partake something of the nature of the infirm runners, which, in most kinds of trees, are thrown out by layers,—the resulting tree, as in the case of those from layers in fruit trees being dwarfish, sooner exhausting itself by reproduction, and sooner decaying. For distinctness, we shall recapitulate: {110}

That the seed be from the largest, hardiest variety of tree in luxuriant growth.

That the seed be recent, and carefully preserved in husk till sowing, and extracted from the husk or cone without artificial drying.

That the nursery be in an open, rather exposed situation,—most eligible without shelter either of tree, hedge or wall, of rather light dry soil of ordinary quality, of dry climate, and, in preference, soil naturally good to that made so by high manuring.

That the plants be not too close, nor remain too long in the seed-bed; that they be extricated without much fracture of root, and be replanted in wide rows, with good space between the plants in the row, keeping the roots as superficially extended as they will thrive, and without doubling the main root up to the surface of the ground.

That the plant receive no pruning, excepting in the case of more than one leader appearing, or feeder unproportionally extended; and no root-section, in order to retard its growth, or increase the number of root-fibres; and that its ultimate removal be accomplished without much fracture of root or branch.

By exposed situation of nursery, ordinary quality of soil, and much room in the seed-bed and rows, we {111} shall have plants with firm fibre and hardy constitution, with thick juicy bark, thick stem at the surface of ground, and numerous feeders all the way down the stem. Roots are most easily extricated from light soil, and with least fracture. They are large in proportion to stem in dry soil and climate, and when they are situated near the surface of the ground.—A healthy growing plant, of firm fibre, large root, and sturdy short stem of one leader and numerous feeders, is the great desideratum: a large root is the more desirable, as a considerable part of it is generally broken off in transplanting, rendering it disproportioned to the top, which, in consequence, either languishes, or receives deterring cropping.

We consider, that a tree grows more luxuriantly, acquires larger size, and is much longer of reaching senility, when it is furnished with several large roots, say one or two to each of the cardinal points, extending horizontally out with bold leaders, than when numerous small rootlets diverge in all directions from the bulb, as is the case in some kinds when much fracture of root takes place from frequent removals, or, when the nursery is of moist or mossy soil, the plants being removed when of considerable size. We have cut down old stunted hard wood trees having extremely numerous crowded roots, all {112} engrafted into a matted net throughout the soil near the bulb, and without any strong extended leaders. We attributed this crowded rooting to the plants having been of considerable size when put in, and losing their natural leaders; the situation, an avenue exposed to cattle, went to confirm the probability that the defect of the rooting had been owing to the largeness of the plants.

When a tree is supplied by numerous, consequently small and not wide-extending roots, as the tree acquires size, the wide spreading branches and leafy top shed off the rain and dews from the space occupied by these roots, very few of them extending beyond this shade; at the same time, this narrow space becomes soon exhausted of the more particular pabulum necessary to the kind of plant, the exhaustion being accelerated by the dryness. This dryness and exhaustion of the soil very soon show their effects aloft; the living hark of the tree becomes covered from its connexion with the air, and constricted by a thick hard dead crust, which, with the consequent very thin alburnum affording an inefficient communication between the supply and demand, react to impair the general vigour, and particularly to impede the descent of the proper sap necessary to the enlargement and further extension of the roots. The buds {113} not receiving sufficient supply of root-moisture, instead of pressing on to new formation of wood, only find enough to burgeon out into flower-buds, which the following season drain the tree by reproduction; this fruit-bearing alternates with periods of exhaustion, when the buds have not even supply sufficient to swell into the embryo of flower and seed, but extend only into a few leaves; and sometimes, in the event of a benign season, the buds may throw out a small extension of new shoots. The tree progresses very slowly in thickness of bole all this time, and generally soon falls a prey to disease. On the other hand, when the tree has its naturally fine large roots preserved, and is situated in open forest, and mixed with other kinds, these large roots diverging widely from the tree and each other, have a much larger less-sought space to forage in; and the tree enjoying a long period of luxuriant growth before it fall much into seed-bearing, acquires strength of constitution to thrive and increase for ages under this drain.

We are satisfied that cutting or fracture of the root-leaders, especially near the bulb, when they have acquired some size, is injurious to the extension and longevity of the tree, in pines and most kinds of hard wood; and that branch-pruning, as generally practised, is not less pernicious, first, by the {114} derangement which the plant receives, from the regular connexion between the rootlets and their affiliated twigs and leaves being destroyed by the section, and afterwards from the distance between the manufacturing parts, the leaves and the sources of supply in the ground being unnaturally extended, especially when the stem is long, slender, and much denuded.

Although we consider severe root fracture at planting pernicious to some hard wood and resinous trees, yet there are kinds to which it is advantageous. All plants which grow freely by cuttings, strike better to have the roots pruned in near to the bulb. Many kinds of seedling-plants also strike sooner, and throw out stronger new root-leaders, when the long straggling fibres are cut in a little, similar to the branches above, which, when over-numerous and slender, throw out more vigorous shoots by being cropped at planting.

PLANTING.

In regard to planting, soils divide into the _dry_ and the _moist_; the former require to have the plants put in as soon as possible after the leaves drop off—at any rate, not to allow February to pass without completing the planting; excepting evergreens, {115} which should not be delayed beyond the middle of April. In dry soils, if the expense be not limited to a very low rate, pit-planting should be adopted, and the pits are better to be dug some months previous, in order that the earth may be aërated, and the turf partly rotted. The moist soils may be divided into those which are much disposed to throw the plant from the frosts and thaws, and those which are not; the former consisting of moory, soft, or spongy earth, upon a retentive subsoil; the latter, of the firmer, more equable loams, clays, and tills. Unless the plants are large, they should always be slitted into the former soil, and the work performed as soon as the ground becomes sadded in spring—as, though the lateness of planting should preclude throwing of pitted plants the first season, they will often be thrown the ensuing winter. When plants are very small, they may be put into the latter, by slitting; but if middle-sized, or large, they are better pitted. It is of the greatest importance to these moist soils, to have very deep, open[27] drains executed previous to planting, cutting off all the springs at their sources, and, if possible, drying the subsoil to such a degree that water will not stand in the pits. Should this be {116} accomplished, it is highly advantageous to dig the pits in time for the excavated clay to have its cohesion broken by frost: the planting should afterwards be performed exactly at the time when this frosted mould is sufficiently dry, and no more, to shake conveniently in among the fibres of the roots, and not to knead into mortar, by the necessary pressing of the feet. After this pressure, a little of the tenderest of the soil should be spread loose over the surface, to exclude drought. Should this dryness of subsoil not be effected, the pits must be dug in spring, at the time the clay is most friable; that is, between the moist and dry; and the plants put in immediately, breaking the clay as fine as possible, and closing it well around the roots. It is better to delay planting even till May, than to perform it too wet. When planting is delayed late in spring, the plants should be kept _shoughed_ in the coldest situation that can be found, at the top of a hill exposed to the north, or in some cold, damp, back-lying place. Care should also be taken not to expose them much while planting, as they, especially if the buds be bursting, very soon wither when root and stem are both exposed to the sun and dry air. When late planted, they ought always to be dipped as far up as the branches in a puddle of clay and water: {117} should they be dipped over head in the puddle, it will not injure them.

What is of most importance to the success of planting, is to have the soil put very closely in contact with all the root-fibre, and these fibres in due natural separation, with a little tender mould on the surface;—not to have water stagnating around the root, at any rate during the first spring;—to have the planting done in time, to receive a good sadding by rain before the spring droughts commence;—to prevent rank weeds, furze, &c. from smothering the young plants;—and to exclude or destroy all bestial, as cattle, sheep, rabbits, hares, mice, &c. In keeping the latter in check, a few families of foxes are very efficient.

FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON PRUNING.

Every forester is aware, that when feeders are pruned off, they should be cut away as close as possible to, and without tearing the hole. To perform this without danger of injury to the tree, when feeders of considerable size are to be removed, the branch should first be sawn over at about one foot beyond the intended section, and a second section then performed at the proper place. This {118} requires a little more time, but not nearly so much as an inexperienced person would suppose, as the section a foot out is made very quickly, and the pruner generally takes as much time to reach the branch as to cut it off. The neatness and advantage of this method will be acknowledged by those who have seen it practised, to compensate for the longer time it requires.

We find the saw, shears, and knife, the best instruments for pruning; in some cases of difficult approach, the long-handed pruning-iron may be resorted to. When the lopping is performed by a percussion tool, the wood and bark at the section is often shattered by the blow, and thence is less likely to cicatrize soundly; and even when executed in the best manner, the surface of the section is smooth and hard, consequently a good conductor of heat, dries much, and thence shrinks and cracks near the centre of the cut, opening a deep crevice, into which the rain penetrates, and often rots deep into the stem. When the section is made by the saw, a slight fibrous clothing is left upon the place, which in some measure protects the ends of the cut tubes from the frost and drying air, and excludes the heat; in consequence the wood at the section does not lose its vitality so far inward, and is not so liable to shrink {119} and crack in the centre and receive rain. The section can also generally be made much neater and closer by the saw than by any other instrument. The common erroneous belief, that a section by a sharp-edged instrument is less injurious than by the saw, is merely hypothetical, from wide analogy from animals. The pernicious influence on the whole individual, received and transmitted by the nerves from mangled section of animal fibre, is probably entirely awanting in vegetables; the whole process of life and of cicatrization is also totally different.

The forester should also be very wary in cutting off a considerable branch, whose section would incline upwards, as such a section, when it has received a circle of new bark and wood, forms a cup which receives and contains rain water, which quickly corrupts the bottom of the cup, and often rots the centre of the tree down to the ground. It is better to crop such a branch several feet from the main stem, close by some small feeder, unless the branch be dead. In pruning, every considerable section should be as near as possible at right angles with the horizon, or rather inclining inward below. Of naval timber, the beech is by far the most likely to take rot by being pruned, and should never have a large limb cut off, as the divided fibres generally die {120} downward a number of feet below the section, and soon afterward decay, leaving a hole in the bole.

As nothing retards the growth of trees more than full flowering and seeding, if pruning diminish this flowering and seeding, so that the gain from the prevention of this exhaustion more than counterbalances the loss of the pruned-off part, the pruning will of course accelerate the growth of the tree; but the removal of lower branches, although in the first place promotive of growing buds and extension of the top, in a year or two longer only tends to throw the tree more into flowering and seeding. The rich dryness, or want of fluidity of the juices which occasions flower-buds, is also induced by hot, dry atmosphere, and short supply of moisture from the roots during the preceding summer, both of which disposing causes are increased by a long naked stem. When the proportion of the part above ground of a tree to the roots is diminished, growing buds result, at least to a certain extent; yet it would be very difficult to practise a proper system of pruning on this principle, as the consequent lengthened stem is, in the end, promotive of flower-buds, especially in dry seasons, and the loss of feeders might greatly counterbalance the gain from not flowering, did a succession of wet cold seasons follow. {121}

The season when pruning should be performed, is something dependent upon the kinds, whether they bleed when pruned in early spring or do not. Almost any convenient time will suit for pruning the latter, but we rather prefer March, April, May, June, or autumn after the leaf has fallen. The former, sycamore, maple, birch, &c. ought either to be pruned in autumn, or after the buds are beginning to break in spring, as they bleed and suffer considerable exhaustion when pruned in the latter part of winter or early spring. From some facts, we consider that pruning in winter, especially in severe weather, gives a check to the vigour of the tree; others agree with this.

{122} OBSERVATIONS ON TIMBER.

The quantity of measurable wood of the various timber trees which a certain extent of adapted ground will carry, when come to full maturity, or when they may be most profitably felled, and the quantity that may be thinned out during the maturing, with the time requisite to bring to value, with the relative selling price per foot, and also whether the greatest quantity of timber can be grown of one kind or mixed, are questions of more importance than might be judged, from the attention paid to the subject. Of our common timber trees, Scots fir, silver fir, and spruce, larch, pinaster, black Italian poplar, Salix alba, commonly called Huntingdon willow, red-wood willow, beech, Spanish chestnut, ash, plane, elm, birch, oak, are here ranked nearly in the order of quantity of measure which adapted ground in this country will produce or support; that is, that an acre of close Scots fir trees, of whatever age, will admeasure more timber than an acre covered with any other tree of the same size; and a close acre of oaks less. A little further south, in the temperate zone, the large-leaved deciduous trees, particularly the {123} elms, acquire thicker and longer stem, in closer order, in a given time. In this country, in rich warm situations, this is visible in some degree, both as regards quantity of timber and quickness of growth, compared with pines. It would be difficult to state the comparative quickness of growth of the various timber trees, as so much depends on soil, situation, and treatment; it also varies considerably at different stages of their growth. It is well known, that in proper soil, black Italian poplar, Salix alba, and red wood willow, exceed all others.

As, for naval use, it is not the quickness of growth and bulk of the timber altogether, but of the matured timber alone, which is of consequence—we give a view of the number of growths or annual circles of sap-wood (the useless part), which the main stems of several kinds of trees presented. Most of those we examined had a greater number of sap-layers near the top than at a few feet above ground, and the vigorous branches had generally more than the stem immediately adjacent to them; the branches with least vigour had fewest sap circles. {124}

_Of Home Growth._

Common oak, some trees 10, others 14, others 18 Spanish chestnut, 2, 5, 6 Scots elm, _U. montana_, 16, 25, 32 English elm, _U. campestris_, 0, 10, 0 Red-wood willow, 8, 14, 0 Laburnum, 3, 5, 0 Wild cherry, _Prunus cerasus_, 16, 24, 0 Black Italian poplar, 9, 0, 0 Scots fir, 20, 30, 40 Pinaster, 0, 10, 0 White larch, free of rot, 5, 12, 18

_Of Foreign Growth._

Memel fir, 0, 43, 0 Red Canadian pine, 0, 100, 0 Yellow Canadian pine, 38, 44, 0

The process of maturing in several did not proceed regularly, some of the rings being reddened on one side and remaining white on the other: this did not seem to be influenced by position to south or north. In the larch, particularly in those trees {125} where the rot is incipient, this maturing is very irregular, in the view of the cross section dashing out into angles and irregularities, and being darker red than in the healthy plants: in those where rot had made considerable progress, the red-wood was within a circle or two of the bark. This approach of red-wood to the outside is so regularly connected with rot, that we needed no other indication of the roots being unfit for knees, and therefore not worth grubbing, than merely a slight notch by two cuts of a hatchet.

Those kinds of timber whose matured wood assumes a brown or reddish colour, are generally much less susceptible of change, either by simple putrefaction or by attack of fungi, or gnawing of insects, than those whose matured wood remains of a whitish colour. In many of the latter, there does not even appear to be any particular change of constitution, or greater capability of resisting corruption or insects, between the alburnum and mature wood, although the difference between the two is generally perceptible when the cross section is drying, and immediate, as in the brown or red; there being no gradual change or softening in either between the mature and immature. Although the change in those which become brown and red does not much affect {126} the hardness or strength of the timber (mature and immature being nearly equal in these when dried before corruption injures the latter), yet it materially influences its nature or quality. We have taken down Laburnum trees in the round natural form from the roofing of an old building, from which nearly the whole yellow or sap-wood was eaten away by insects, although they had not made the least impression upon the brown[28]. {127}

Whether timber be more lasting when cut at one time of the season than at another, is not yet determined. The matured wood does not seem to be much affected by the season, continuing nearly equally moist throughout the year; life or action in it, though not quite, being nearly extinct, and little or no circulation remaining; yet the matured wood of the stool of the pine throws out a little resin when the tree is cut down in summer,—perhaps only a mechanical effect of heat and drying. Steeping in water for a considerable time is of far more importance to the duration of timber than any thing depending on the time of the season when it is cut down; steeping causes some acetous {128} change in the timber (easily recognisable by the sense of smelling when any section of it is made), which, judging from the effect the acetous change has to preserve other vegetable matter from putrefaction, is probably of considerable use in preserving the timber from decay, either by rot or worming. The time of cutting, although of considerable importance to the quality and durability of the sap-wood, appears to be of little or none to the matured.

The age at which timber may be cut down being uncertain, the height to which it should be trained up of clear stem is not very determinable,—say that the trees are to be allowed to stand till nearly full grown,—as long as the timber continues to retain its strength and toughness when growing in proper soil, that is for hard-wood trees 100 years and upwards, and for pines from two to three hundred. On crowns of eminences and exposed bluffs, particularly when the latitude or altitude is rather high, the soil inferior, or the climate arid, from 15 to 30 feet of clear hole may be as much as can judiciously be attempted; upon plains under common circumstances, from 30 to 50 feet is an attainable stem; in sheltered dales and valleys, they may be trained clean, and without branch, from 50 to 70 feet in altitude; and in cases where soil, situation, {129} and climate, are all propitious, and it is desired that nature’s fullest, grandest, development should be displayed, from 70 to 150 feet, clear of branch, maybe gained. Lewis and Clarke describe a spruce, in a sheltered dell on the river Columbia, which they measured, lying upon the ground, 312 feet long from root to top. We have little belonging to earth more sublime, or which bears home to man a deeper sense of his bodily insignificance, and puny transient being, than an ancient majestic forest, whose luxuriant foliage on high, seems of itself almost a firmament of verdure, supported on lofty moss-covered columns, and unnumbered branched arches,—a scene equally sublime, whether we view it under the coloured and flickering lights and shadows of the summer eve and morning, resounding to the song of the wild life which harbours there,—or under the scattered beams streaming downward at high noontide when all is still,—or in winter storms, when the wild jarring commotion, the frightful rending and lashing of the straining branches, like the arms of primeval giants, contending in their might, bear accompaniment to the loud roar and bellow of the tempest, forming a drone and chaunter to which demons might dance.

{130} CONCERNING OUR MARINE, &c.

Can we consider the Briton sane who speaks of bounding this country to her home resources? Can any one doubt that our name, our wealth, our power, are not wholly attributable to our _Marine_? Can any one be ignorant that the superiority of our marine is wholly dependant on our _foreign trade_, particularly the bulkier part of it, on _foreign supply_? Does any one dread the necessity of _foreign supply_, from the foolish fear that it may be cut off by war? Keeping out of view the argument, that ere the British pride would suffer _other domination on the waters_, our numbers would be well thinned away, they know little of the influence of circumstance on man, who do not perceive that, in the event of free trade, and of the population of Britain increasing beyond what the country, under the best possible culture, could support, the very necessity of being mistress of the seas would make her so. They know little of what Britain is, country and people, who doubt of her continued supremacy, should she not be ruined, indeed, by following the narrow selfish {131} views of a party—a party alike ungrateful[29] for the past, and blind to, or heedless of, their own ultimate good. The position of Britain,—her stretch of sea-coast, serrated with harbours,—her minerals, the principle of mechanical motion, so necessary in the arts,—her navy, docks, canals, roads, implements, and machinery, so superior to those of the whole world beside,—her fertile soil,—her capital,—her protection of property,—her insular situation,—her steady government and consequent ingress of capital from the continent on any commotion,—her habits of industry,—her knowledge of trade,—her sciences,—her arts,—her free press,—her {132} religion[30],—and the stamina and indomitable spirit of her people. All these, causes and effects combined, brought into action under a climate the most favourable for developing the moral and physical energies of man, where the extremes of temperature neither relax nor chill, where the human muscle and human mind are more capable of continued strong exertion, and machinery less influenced by hygrometric and calorific change, than on any other spot of earth. When all these are condensed into a nucleus of power of so small compass that one spirit, one interest, may pervade all, but drawing support by ramifications from every nook of the habitable world, should an infatuated party not render unavailable these unmatched advantages, cowardice could not even dream of peril to the supremacy of British naval power.

Let us continue to extend our foreign intercourse and home cultivation—let the merchant legislate in affairs of trade—the landholder in country matters; each in that in which his judgment has been formed by experience, acting always on the principle that the general prosperity of the country is the interest {133} of every class—that, like the branch and the root, their prosperity is indissolubly combined.

When we view the advantages of Britain—almost to a wish,—when we view her able and ready to supply the necessities of man in every clime, in exchange for his superfluities, and to scatter science, morality, the arts of life, all that conduces to happiness and improvement over the nations,—when we view all this, being blasted by an exclusive system of monopoly, of very doubtful advantage to one party of the nation, and tyrannically oppressive upon all others, can we refrain from execration? We would desire the casuist to draw a distinction between the criminality of preventing the operative from exchanging the produce of his labour (otherwise unsaleable) for cheap food[31], when his family is famishing; and compelling the labour of the Negro (whom you support with food) with the whip. Men will be found of a virtue sufficiently easy to advocate either system. We only wish that the supporters of {134} monopoly and their abettors were sent off to some separate quarter of the world with all their beloved restrictions, duties, tariffs, passports, revenue officers, blockade men, with the innumerable petty interfering vexatious regulations, and all the contrivances which surely the devil has invented to repress industry and promote misery, where they might form an Elysium of their own.

There is nothing more certain, should we by restrictions continue to banish knowledge, capital, and industry from our shores[32], than that the Genius of Improvement will fix upon some other place for the seat of her throne. _Maritime dominion_ will follow in her train; and on the first war, all exportation of the products of our manufacturers being at an end, unexampled misery will involve four-fifths of our population, and an explosion will ensue, from its origin and character of unparalleled fury, which will sweep to destruction the insane authors of the calamity—tear to shreds the whole fabric of society—and give to the winds all the institutions which man has been accustomed to revere. {135}

* * * * *

It is disgraceful that our MARINE is not directly represented in the British Parliament. Is it possible that every clown in England, who is owner of a few acres or miserable hovel, is carried to the poll,—and that our shipping interest, and brave seamen, to whom the rest of the nation is indebted “for all they have, and almost all they know,” are passed over—have not one direct representative—have not even one direct vote, and that their interest is totally neglected[33]? Will it be credited that our most sage legislators, as if on purpose to ruin our marine, have laid on a tax of L. 4 per load (above 1s. 7d. per solid foot) on oak-plank, and L. 2, 15s. per load on rough oak-timber, imported from other nations; which, as only a small part of what is (not of what would be) used, is so derived, at the same time that it raises the price of the whole[34] nearly 100 per cent., tends comparatively little to swell the revenue,—nearly the whole of the high monopoly price reverting to our landholders and our grateful Canadian {136} colony? As about a load (50 solid feet) of timber is required for the construction of a ton of trading shipping, this duty, together with the high duty on hemp, increases the cost of our vessels nearly L. 4 per register ton, independent of the higher price of building and sailing them, from other monopolies; and it is only from the very superior skill, honesty and industry of our seamen[35], that our shipping, since the peace, under this very great disadvantage, has been at all enabled to compete with foreign. At Shields and Newcastle a new merchant-vessel of oak, rigged and ready for sea, uncoppered, can be purchased for L. 10 per register ton. Were the price, by the removal of monopoly, reduced to L. 6 per ton, scarcely a foreign bottom, American excepted, would compete with British, in the carrying trade, or would enter a British port. Can it be believed that our very liberal late minister (Mr Huskisson), and our very non-liberal member for Newark (Mr Sadler), have both made a _full_ exposè of the distresses of our shipping interest, and not once have adverted to the _cause_ of this, and of the comparative decline of our naval preponderance—_the very high duty on the_ {137} _material_? Does our Government perceive the rapid strides which our rival brothers in America are making to surpass us in marine—and will it be so besotted as continue laws to the speedy fulfilment of this?

May we hope that, through the energy of OUR SAILOR KING, Britain will lead the van in the disenfranchisement of man from the old bondage of monopoly and restriction—that a more sane system of taxation (a tax on property) will be adopted, as well as a necessary retrenchment—that the true interest of Britain will be understood and followed, and a new era begin. We are sick of the drivelling nonsense of our closet economists about loss by colonies and foreign connexion. Bonaparte well knew the value of SHIPS, COLONIES and COMMERCE, and dreaded the power which eventually wrought his fall. The existence of China depends upon her Agriculture, and the sovereign devotes a part of his time annually to the plough. The existence of Britain depends upon her Marine, and the king should always be bred a sailor—the heir-apparent and presumptive being always sent to sea. In the case of a female, if she did not take kindly to the sea-service, a dispensation might be allowed, on her marrying a sailor, and the foolish law prohibiting our Royal Family from marrying a Briton be put aside.

ENDNOTES TO PART III.

[25] If the heat and evaporation of a gardener’s pocket for several days be sufficient to render the seeds of melons and gourds productive of plants of earlier maturity, that is less disposed to extension and more to reproduction,—what may be expected from kiln-drying fir-cones?

[26] The full ripening of the seeds of some cultivated varieties of vegetables, and also the drying of the seeds severely without artificial heat, are found to have considerable influence upon the germination of the seeds, and even some impression upon the character of the resulting plant.

[27] Covered drains are not adapted for woods, as the matted fibres of the roots, especially of the semi-aquatic trees, very soon enter them and form obstructions.

[28] Laburnum (Cytisus) is the most valuable timber this country produces. It is equally deep in colour, and takes as fine a polish as rose-wood, having also something slightly pellucid in the polished surface. From its extreme hardness, it is much better adapted for use than mahogany, not being indented or injured by blows or rough treatment. We are acquainted with no other timber of home produce so little liable to decay. The large-leaved variety in rich warm soils acquires a diameter of a foot or a foot and a-half, and grows rapidly till it fall into seed-bearing. Its usual very stunted growth is partly owing to less valuable faster growing trees overtopping it: Were it planted alone, and trained to proper curve, it might be profitably reared for the upper timbers (the part where decay commences) of small vessels: it has the thinnest covering of sap wood of any of our timber trees. The extreme beauty and richness of its clustered depending blossoms is a considerable injury to its growth, as it is often broken and despoiled of the branches on this account. The small-leaved Laburnum, though producing the most beautiful timber, is of such puny growth as not to rank as a forest tree. There is a peculiarity, at least seldom occurring in other trees, attending the growth of the small-leaved variety: a branch frequently gives up feeding the connected trunk and roots, drawing supply of nourishment from these upward, without returning much or any of the digested matter downward. This branch above the place of the stagnation of the bark vessels becomes enlarged, running into numerous shoots, which are generally unnaturally thick and unhealthy, approaching to dropsical—often, however, beautifully pendant down to the ground, from their weight and the smallness of the supporting branch. We do not know whether this is an awkward effort towards increase—that these branches, under the influence of a not entirely matured instinct or faculty, droop in search of earth to root, and extend by layers, in conformity to a habit of some tribes of trees, in which this mode of increase is efficient, or that it is a disease unconnected with design or final cause. These overgrown branches of the small-leaved laburnum are generally thrown out by trees, which, owing to circumstances, are little disposed to seeding.

[29] Let us compare the wealth of the British landholder with that of the like grade on the Continent. It is the unrivalled skill and industry of our manufacturers and traders which have laid every shore under contribution for the immense riches which has poured in upon our landholders, and which, from juxtaposition, will continue to do so, in a certain degree, under the fullest freedom of trade. It is now absurd to talk of duties on foreign products, to counterbalance home taxation—taxation now bears lightly on home agricultural production, more so than in many parts of the Continent, and our manufacturers, under the same or greater taxation, compete with and outstrip all the world in cheapness of production.

[30] The dread of change in Catholic countries—the proscription of almost every new work treating of science—the complete submission of the mind to the religious authorities, bearded men “becoming little children” even to the letter—the consequent general abandonment to sensual enjoyment—the immense number of holidays—and the shoals of meddling priests, are a great bar to improvement—an insurmountable one to manufacturing pre-eminence. We need not say that all this is subordinate to climate. Effect, however, soon turns to cause.

[31] Our industrious operatives, rendered trebly more productive by recent machinery improvements, fabricate three times more commodity than our landed and other population can with their present habits consume. Few other nations can give else but food in exchange for this overplus; our landholders have enacted laws to exclude food, and our operatives are being starved down to the requisite number for home supply.