Illustrations of vegetable physiology, practically applied to the cultivation of the garden, the field and the forest. Consisting of original observations, collected during an experience of fifty years / [James Main].

  • Main, James.
Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Illustrations of vegetable physiology, practically applied to the cultivation of the garden, the field and the forest. Consisting of original observations, collected during an experience of fifty years / [James Main]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and durable, because in that season “ the sap is down.” We have already adverted to, and com- mented on, the accuracy of this old notion, and have shown, that, however right the practice of felling timber in winter, the woodman’s reason for doing so is not strictly philosophical. But this is of little con- sequence, so as the practical old custom is right. Of the oak we may observe, that disbarking and killing- the tree before it is felled, cannot answer any material good. The stem will continue to imbibe water as long as it stands, though deprived of bark; and as all aqueous sap must be exhaled away before the timber can be used with propriety, little time is gained by this scheme, and no great superiority of quality. It is only the sap wood, or recent layers of alburnum, that suffer by being too quickly seasoned, and this is never, or should never be, used in ma- chinery, ships, or other structure where heart-wood is particularly necessary. With respect to the propriety of disbarking timber in general, we know that in some instances it is right, in others wrong. The peculiar qualities of the tree are often found concentrated in the bark. If these qualities be conservative, persisting, and moreover repulsive to insects, it is wrong to deprive such trees of the bark, when the whole, or parts of the stem or branches are used for any purpose of buildings or fencing: of this description is the larch. On the other hand, if the bark contains no conservative prin- ciple, and be attractive and retentive of moisture