Chapter V

THE WOOD-WORK. GROWTH AND TRANSPORT OF TIMBER.

The operations of the carpenter and joiner in the preparation of the wood-work of a house are quite as important as those of the mason or bricklayer. It would not be possible in this little volume to trace clearly all the different processes connected with the building of a house as they occur in practice; for the bricklayer and the carpenter combine their work, as it were, step by step. But as the bricklaying and the slating, or tiling, relate principally to the exterior of the house, and the carpentry work to the interior, we have thus a line of separation, which will greatly contribute to the clearness of these details.

As on a former occasion we noticed the operations of the quarry, whence the builder is supplied with stone, slate, &c., it will now be interesting to give a few details respecting the growth and transport of timber.

The Oak as a Timber Tree.

It is obvious that in every country native timber is preferred, provided it can be obtained in sufficient quantity at a cheap rate; if not, it is imported from other countries. In Britain, the first and most important of all trees is, of course, our own oak, of which we have two species and several varieties, belonging to the genus _Quercus_.

The two species of oak natives of Britain, though greatly resembling each other in general appearance, may yet very readily be distinguished, when once their specific characters are pointed out. As these two species are very commonly confounded together, and as one of them is believed to afford a far more valuable timber than the other, it may be useful to note their difference, and exhibit the characters by which each may be known.

The true British oak, _Quercus robur_, (fig. 1) bears its acorns on a stalk, or _peduncle_ (fig. 1, A), and hence it is sometimes called _Quecus pedunculata_, but its leaves grow close to the stem, without a footstalk, or at least with a very short one. In the other native species (fig. 2), these two characters are reversed: the leaves grow upon a footstalk, while the acorns are produced _sessile_, that is, sitting close to the stem (fig. 2, A); from which latter character this species has acquired the name of _Quercus sessiliflora_.

Fig. 2.]

The above characters will, for the most part, be found pretty constant. At the same time, it may be remarked, that the oak is a tree subject to great variations; and accordingly individuals of each species occasionally occur, which in their characters are found more or less to approach those of the other. _Quercus robur_, for example, sometimes bears its acorns almost close to the stem, and sometimes _Quercus sessiliflora_ will bear them on a short footstalk. The leaves, too, of each, frequently vary in the length of the _petiole_, or leafstalk. But in a general way (as already stated), each kind may be readily distinguished by the above obvious points of difference.

Both species are common in Britain, though _Quercus sessiliflora_ appears to be not so generally distributed as the other; in many districts its growth seems to be principally confined to woods and coppices, where it sometimes occurs even in greater abundance than the common species. _Quercus robur_ is believed to afford the more valuable timber of the two, owing, probably, to its being of slower growth. It is doubtful, however, whether the respective merits of each, in point of durability of timber, have yet been fairly put to the test. Where oak is grown in coppices, to be cut down periodically for poles, _Quercus sessiliflora_ is at least a valuable, perhaps a preferable tree, on account of its more rapid and cleaner growth.

No certain specific characters, we are aware, can be derived from the mere size or shape of the acorns, or of the leaves. It may be mentioned, however, as a general, though not a constant rule, that _Quercus sessiliflora_ usually bears very small acorns, and that its leaves are, for the most part, larger, and more regularly laciniated or notched, and consequently handsomer, as _individual leaves_, than those of _Quercus robur_. The foliage of the latter species, however, taken as a whole, is by far the more beautiful; its leaves, being smaller, and growing close to the stem, and not on footstalks, combine better, form more dense and compact masses, and exhibit to greater perfection those exquisite tufts, or rosettes, which constitute one of the peculiar charms of oak foliage.

The oak is far less used in civil architecture than formerly, although there are certain purposes in building to which it is still applied; but owing to its value and the demand for it for ships, and to the great labour required to work it, its place is now supplied by _fir_. The best oak is that which grows on cold, stiff, clayey soils, and is the slowest in arriving at maturity; and the colder the climate, or the higher above the level of the sea the tree grows, provided it be not stunted from severity of climate, the better the timber: hence Scottish and Welsh oak is more esteemed than that from the middle or southern counties of Britain. Our own island does not produce this timber in sufficient abundance to supply the demand, and large quantities of oak are imported from different countries, especially from Prussia and Canada. There are four kinds of oak used in the Royal Dock-yards,--Welsh, Sussex, Adriatic, and Baltic,--besides two others, termed African oak, employed in different parts of the vessels, according to the qualities requisite for the particular purpose. Next to our own oak, that from the shores of the Baltic is by far the most esteemed.

In domestic architecture, oak is only used in the largest and best buildings, occasionally for the principal beams; but its chief use is for door and window frames, sills, sleepers, king-posts of roofs, for trussing fir girders, for sashes, for gates of locks, sluices, posts, piles, &c. The timber called _African oak_, used in the navy, is wood of a different genus.

_Wainscot_ is the wood of a species of oak, imported from Russia and Prussia in a particular form of log.

Teak is the produce of a tree of the genus _Tectona_. _T. grandis_ is one of the largest Indian trees, and one of the most valuable, on account of its excellent timber. The trunk is neat, lofty, and of an enormous size; the leaves about twenty inches long and a foot or more wide; the flowers small, white, and fragrant, and collected into very large panicles. It is a native of various parts of India, and was introduced into Bengal by Lord Cornwallis and Colonel Kydd. The wood of this tree has been proved by long experience to be the most useful timber in Asia; it is light and easily worked, and at the same time strong and durable. It is considered equal to oak for ship-building, and has some resemblance to it in its timber; many vessels trading between this country and India are constructed of it. That which grows near the banks of the Godavery is beautifully veined, closer in the grain, and heavier than other varieties. “On the banks of the river Irrawaddy, in the Birman empire, the teak forests are unrivalled; and they rise so far over the jungle or brushwood, by which tropical forests are rendered impenetrable, that they seem almost as if one forest were raised on gigantic poles over the top of another. The teak has not the broad strength of the oak, the cedar, and some other trees; but there is a grace in its form which they do not possess.” A specimen of this tree was introduced into the Royal Gardens at Kew about seventy years ago; but from the coldness of our climate it can never become a forest-tree in this country.

Valuable as teak is found to be in ship-building, it has not yet been used in domestic building to any extent. From sixteen to eighteen thousand loads of teak are annually imported into Britain from India, principally for the Royal Dock-yards, this wood being used for certain beams and pillars in ships.

The Fir and Pine as Timber Trees.

_Fir_, or _Pine_, ranks next to oak for its valuable qualities, and if its universal application be taken into consideration, it might be thought even superior in importance. It is used for every part of houses, and extensively in ship-building, in the fittings-up, while it constitutes the only material for masts, for which purpose its lightness, and the great length and straightness of the trunk, peculiarly fit it.

Pine, or fir, is imported into this kingdom under the various names of timber, battens, deals, laths, masts, yards, and spars, according to the size or form into which the tree is sawed. It is called _timber_ when the tree is only squared into a straight beam of the length of the trunk, and from not less than eight or nine inches square, up to sixteen or eighteen square; fifty cubic feet is a load of timber. Deals vary in length and thickness from eight to sixteen feet, eleven inches wide, and from one and a half to three and a half inches thick. Four hundred superficial feet of one and a half inch plank make a load. _Battens_ are small long pieces of fir about three inches wide and one inch thick. Masts, yards, and spars, are the trunks of small trees simply barked and topped.

The pine is, generally speaking, an evergreen, and the wood becomes harder and more durable when the situation is cold, and also when the growth of the tree is slow. Norway, Sweden, the shores of the Baltic, and Canada, are the chief localities of the forests of pine. England is supplied principally from Canada, not because the timber from that country is better than that derived from the north of Europe, but because our timber duties fall heavily on the European pine, the object of the legislature being to encourage the importation of pine from our North American colonies.

Almost the whole of what is now called Canada was once an immense pine forest. With respect to the Baltic region, Dr. Clarke said, that if we take up a map of Sweden, and imagine the Gulf of Bothnia to be surrounded by one contiguous unbroken forest, as ancient as the world, consisting principally of pine trees, with a few mingling birch and juniper trees, we shall have a general and tolerably correct notion of the real appearance of the country. The same writer observed, that the King of Sweden might travel from sunrise to sunset through some parts of his territories, without meeting any other of his subjects than pine trees.

The Norway Spruce Fir.

The species of Spruce Fir (_Pinus abies_), represented in the engraving, has been known as a British tree for more than three hundred years, but Norway seems, as far as it can be ascertained, to be its native country. It differs from the Scotch fir in general appearance, as well as in the structure of its leaves and cones. The beautiful feathery appearance of its foliage is very striking, but the extreme regularity of its form rather detracts from the beauty of a landscape when it is too often repeated; it is easily known by its long pendulous cones, as well as by its formal shape. The spruce fir is found in great abundance in all the Norwegian forests; it is also spread over the whole of the north of Europe, and part of Asia, and it occurs on most of the mountain-ranges of both these quarters of the globe; in favourable situations it attains a great height, as much at times as 150 feet.

The spruce grows more rapidly than any other of the fir tribes; its wood is extremely tough and strong, and answers well for masts and spars, but it is not so valuable when cut into planks as that of other species. It does not attain the same size in Britain as in colder climates, the tree perhaps being weakened by the loss of its sap, which in hot weather is discharged through the bark in considerable quantities. The more protracted season of growth, and the greater difference between the temperature of the day and the night, must have an effect upon it, and judging from the situations which it prefers on the Continent, the summer rains of England cannot be by any means favourable. The almost continual day in the Polar countries, while vegetation is active, produces a uniformity of temperature, and a consequent uninterrupted growth day and night, while in countries farther south, the vegetable action is checked every night, and renewed again every morning, especially in the early part of the season, when such alternations are most dangerous.

1 1 Male Catkins, or Blossoms.
2 2 2 Cones containing the Seed.]

The Norway Spruce is called by the French the Pitch Spruce, from its yielding the Burgundy Pitch of commerce. To obtain this, parts of the bark are removed in the spring, and the resin exudes in greater or smaller quantities, according to the state of the tree; this is scraped off from time to time. After a sufficient quantity has been collected, it is melted in hot water, and strained through bags to separate the impurities. If the strips of bark which are removed are narrow, the trees will continue to yield for several years.

The Norway Spruce, and all other trees of the fir tribe, are propagated by means of seeds. These are to be sown rather thinly about the middle of March, in a shady well-sheltered border; towards the autumn the ground is to be carefully weeded, and a quantity of rich earth strewed lightly over the whole. During the winter, if the frosts are very severe, the young plants ought at times to be protected from the severity of the weather. In the next spring, and during the months of May and June, the young plants will be much assisted by frequent waterings, and in the autumn the ground must be again cleaned. In the succeeding spring, when their heads begin to swell, they may be removed. At four years old they may be transplanted again to a spot of good land, and placed in rows two and a half feet asunder, and fourteen or sixteen inches distant in each row. Three years after they will again require to be transplanted four feet asunder, and so on, increasing the space between the trees at each remove, until the young ones are fourteen or sixteen feet in height.

The Scotch Fir.

One of the most useful kinds of pine is the _Pinus Sylvestris_ (wild pine), generally known as Scotch fir. It is this tree which produces that kind of wood so extensively useful to the carpenter under the name of _deal_. The term “deal” implies timber squared into a convenient size for exportation, and it is in the form of deals that the wood of which we are now speaking is imported into England from Norway and the Baltic. The best part of this wood is near the root; and the roots themselves are valuable for many purposes. It is of this wood that the bodies of violins and the sounding boards of musical instruments generally, are made: the grain of the wood formed by the annual layers being very straight and regular. In trees which have not arrived at maturity, there is a portion of sap-wood next the bark; this sap-wood is converted into ligneous matter in about two or three years from its formation.

The Scotch Fir, or Pine, is not peculiar to Scotland, but is common to all the mountain-ranges of Europe; in low damp situations it never thrives, but delights in the exposed summits of the loftiest rocks, over which the earth is but thinly scattered; there its roots wander afar in the wildest reticulation, whilst its tall, furrowed, and often gracefully-sweeping, red and gray trunk, of enormous circumference, rears aloft its high umbrageous canopy.

The fir was a very great favourite with Gilpin, who considered it, as it really is, to be under favourable circumstances, a very picturesque object in a landscape: the earnestness with which he defends its character is peculiarly forcible; he says, “It is a hardy plant, and, therefore, put to every servile office. If you wish to screen your house from the south-west wind, plant Scotch firs, and plant them close and thick. If you want to shelter a nursery of young trees, plant Scotch firs, and the phrase is, you may afterwards weed them out at your pleasure. This is ignominious. I wish not to rob society of these hardy services from the Scotch fir, nor do I mean to set it in competition with many trees of the forest, which, in their infant state, it is accustomed to shelter; all I mean is, to rescue it from the disgrace of being thought fit for nothing else, and to establish its character as a picturesque tree. For myself, I admire its foliage, both the colour of its leaf and its mode of growth. Its ramification, too, is irregular and beautiful.”

The practice of planting this tree in groups is the cause to which its unfavourable character, as a picturesque object, may be attributed, the closeness of growth causing the stems to run upward without lateral branches. The hilly regions of the whole of Great Britain and Ireland were formerly covered with vast forests, a great portion of which consisted of fir-trees. Of these ancient forests some remains still exist; in Scotland, the relics of the Rannock forest, on the borders of the counties of Perth, Inverness, and Argyle, are well known: these consist of the roots and a few scattered trees, which are still found in situations of difficult access. This forest appears to have stretched across the country, and to have been connected with the woody districts of the west of Scotland. The Abernethy forest, in Perthshire, still furnishes a considerable quantity of timber.

“At one time,” we quote Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Bart., “the demand for it was so trifling, that the Laird of Grant got only twenty pence for what one man could cut and manufacture in a year. In 1730 a branch of the York Buildings Company purchased seven thousand pounds’ worth of timber, and by their improved mode of working it, by saw-mills, &c., and their new methods of transporting it in floats to the sea, they introduced the rapid manufacture and removal of it, which afterwards took place throughout the whole of the sylvan districts. About the year 1786 the Duke of Gordon sold his Glenmore forest to an English company for 10,000_l._ This was supposed to be the finest fir-wood in Scotland. Numerous trading vessels, some of them above five hundred tons burden, were built from the timber of this forest, and one frigate, which was called the Glenmore. Many of the trees felled measured eighteen and twenty feet in girth, and there is still preserved at Gordon Castle a plank nearly six feet in breadth, which was presented to the Duke by the Company. But the Rothienmurchus forest was the most extensive of any in that part of the country; it consisted of about sixteen square miles. Alas! we must indeed say, it was, for the high price of timber hastened its destruction. It went on for many years, however, to make large returns to the proprietor, the profit being sometimes 20,000_l._ a year.”

Besides the forest we have mentioned, there are still in existence other tracts of land in different parts of Scotland covered with this timber. The attention which has been drawn to the value of the Scotch fir has been an inducement to proprietors of land to cause extensive plantations to be formed on suitable spots; but Nature herself takes measures to perpetuate her work where the hand of man has carried destruction; for, after the old trees have been felled and carried off the ground, young seedlings come up as thick as in the nurseryman’s seed bed.

The timber supplied by the Scotch fir is called Red Deal, and the uses to which it is applied render it necessary that the stem should be straight, and close planting materially assists in this object, by preventing the possibility of the trees flinging out their lateral branches; this, as we have already noticed, disfigures the tree in the eye of an artist, however much it may delight that of a timber merchant. The straightest and cleanest-grown trees are selected for masts, spars, scaffold-poles, &c., while the largest _sticks_ are sawed into planks for various purposes. Its wood is very durable, and resists the action of water excellently. The persons employed at different times in the endeavour to rescue the cargo of the Royal George, which foundered off Spithead, in the year 1782, discovered that the fir-planks had suffered little, if any injury, while the other timbers of the vessel had been much acted upon by the water and different species of worms.

In Holland this tree has been used for the purpose of preparing the foundations of houses in their swampy soil; 13,659 great masts of this timber were driven into the ground for the purpose of forming the foundation of the Stadthouse at Amsterdam. But it is not only for its timber that we are indebted to this tree; those useful articles, tar, pitch, and turpentine, are all yielded by its sap.

Transport of Timber from the Forests.

Probably but few of our readers think of the means by which _timber_ is conveyed from the forest where it grows, to the spots where it is to be applied to the purposes of building. And yet it must be evident that the means of transport form a matter of no small importance. We know that our timber-yards are plentifully supplied with the various kinds of wood necessary for building; and that the timbers are shaped by the axe and the saw. But, in most cases, the wood which we employ is brought from foreign countries, often many miles inland. It is conveyed across the ocean in ships; but the mode of transporting it from the forests where it grows to the ports where it is to be shipped, is a curious subject, and one well worthy of a little attention.

The main circumstance that forms the groundwork of all the plans adopted for this purpose is, that nearly all kinds of wood are, bulk for bulk, lighter than water, and will consequently swim on its surface. Now as all countries are, more or less intersected by rivers, which flow from the interior into the sea, a very simple and economical mode of transport for timber is at once attained, by causing it to float down running streams, either by the mere force of the descending water, or by the aid of mechanical agents. There is no necessity that each piece of wood should be floated separately down the stream; for they may be fastened together and steered down the middle of the river, in the form of a long and broad raft.

Beckmann says: “It is probable that the most ancient mode of constructing vessels for the purpose of navigation, gave rise to the first idea of conveying timber in the like manner; for the earliest ships or boats were nothing else than rafts, or a collection of beams and planks bound together, over which were placed deals. By the Greeks they were called _schedai_, and by the Latins _rates_; and it is known, from the testimony of many writers, that the ancients ventured out to sea with them, on piratical expeditions, as well as to carry on commerce; and that after the invention of ships, they were still retained for the transportation of soldiers, and of heavy burdens.”

There are some passages in the Bible which allude to the floating of wood. 1 Kings v. 9: “My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea; and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me.” 2 Chron. ii. 16: “And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need: and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa, and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.” These passages relate to a compact between Solomon and Hiram, king of Tyre, by which the latter was to cause cedars for the building of the Temple to be cut down on the western side of Mount Lebanon, above Tripoli, and to be floated to Jaffa or Joppa, probably along by the sea shore.

The Romans transported by water both timber for building and fire-wood. When, during their wars against the Germans, they became acquainted with the qualities of the common _larch_, they caused large quantities of it to be carried on the river Po, to Ravenna, from the Alps, particularly the Rhætian, and to be conveyed also to Rome, for their most important buildings. Vitruvius says, that this timber was so heavy that the waters could not support it, and that it was necessary to carry it in ships or on rafts. Could it have been brought to Rome conveniently, says he, it might have been used with great advantage in building. It has also been supposed that the Romans procured fire-wood from Africa, and that it was brought partly in ships and partly on rafts.

But it is in Germany that the transportation of timber by means of floats has been most extensively carried on, partly on account of its noble forests, and partly through the possession of the river Rhine. There is evidence of the floating of timber-rafts in Germany so far back as the year 1410. A letter from the Landgrave of Thuringia says, that on account of the scarcity of wood that existed in their territory, the landgraves had so far lessened the toll usually paid on the river Sale as far as Weissenfels, that a Rhenish florin only was demanded for _floats_ brought on that river to Jena, and two Rhenish stivers for those carried to Weissenfels; but the proprietors of the floats were bound to be answerable for any injury occasioned to the bridges.

In 1438, Hans Munzer, an opulent citizen of Freyberg, with the assistance of the then burgomasters, put a float of wood upon the river Mulda, which runs past the city, in order that it might be conveyed thither for the use of the inhabitants: this seems to imply that such a practice was not then uncommon. When the town of Aschersleben was adorned with a new church, in 1495, the timber used for its construction was transported on the Elbe, from Dresden to Acken, and from thence on the Achse to the place of its destination. In the year 1561, there was a float-master in Saxony, who was obliged to give security to the amount of four hundred florins; so that at that time the business of floating must have been of considerable importance.

When the citizens of Paris had used all the timber growing near the city, the enormous expense of land carriage led to the suggestion of an improved mode of transport. John Rouvel, a citizen and merchant, in the year 1549, proposed to transport timber, bound together, along rivers which were not navigable for large vessels. With this view he made choice of the forests in the woody district of Morvant, which belonged to the government of Nivernois; and as several small streams and rivulets had their sources there, he endeavoured to convey into them as much water as possible. This great undertaking, at first laughed at, was completed by his successor, René Arnoul, in 1566. The wood was thrown into the water in single trunks, and suffered to be driven in that manner by the current to Crevant, a small town on the river Yonne; where each timber-merchant drew out his own, which he had previously marked, and after it was dry, formed it into floats that were transported from the Yonne to the Seine, and thence to the capital. By this method large quantities of timber were conveyed to the populous towns.

A similar mode of transporting timber from the central parts of Germany to the great towns or to the seaports is practised at the present day. Mr. Planché, in his _Descent of the Danube_, says: “Below this bridge, (at Plattling on the Danube,) the raft-masters of Munich, who leave that city every Monday for Vienna, unite their rafts before they enter the Danube. They descend the Isar upon single rafts only; but upon reaching this point, they lash them together in pairs, and in fleets of three, four, or six pairs, they set out for Vienna. A voyage is made pleasantly enough upon these floating islands, as they have all the _agrémens_, without the confinement of a boat. A very respectable promenade can be made from one end to the other, and two or three huts erected upon them afford shelter in bad weather, and repose at night.”

But the anonymous author of _An Autumn near the Rhine_ gives a more detailed account of the timber-rafts of Germany, of which we will avail ourselves. A little below Andernach, on the banks of the Rhine, the small village of Namedy appears on the left bank, under a wooded mountain. The Rhine here forms a little bay, where the pilots are accustomed to unite together the lesser rafts of timber, floated down the tributary rivers into the Rhine, and to construct enormous floats, which are navigated to Dordrecht and sold. These machines have the appearance of a floating village, composed of twelve or fifteen huts, on a large platform of oak and deal timber. They are frequently eight or nine hundred feet long, and sixty or seventy in breadth. The rowers and workmen sometimes amount to seven or eight hundred, superintended by pilots and a proprietor, whose habitation is superior in size and elegance to the rest. The raft is composed of several layers of trees, placed one on the other, and tied together. A large raft draws not less than six or seven feet water. Several smaller ones are attached to it, by way of protection, besides a string of boats, loaded with anchors and cables, and used for the purpose of sounding the river, and going on shore. The domestic economy of an East Indiaman is hardly more complete. Poultry, pigs, and other animals, are to be found on board, and several butchers are attached to the suite. A well-supplied boiler is at work night and day in the kitchen. The dinner hour is announced by a basket stuck on a pole, at which signal the pilot gives the word of command, and the workmen run from their quarters to receive their allowances.

The consumption of provisions in the voyage to Holland is almost incredible, sometimes amounting to forty or fifty thousand pounds of bread, eighteen or twenty thousand pounds of fresh meat, a considerable quantity of salt meat, and butter, vegetables, &c., in proportion. The expenses are so great, that a capital of three or four hundred thousand florins is considered necessary to undertake a raft. Their navigation is a matter of considerable skill, owing to the abrupt windings, the rocks and shallows of the river; and some years ago the secret was thought to be monopolized by a boatman of Rudesheim and his son.

The timber of the spruce firs which grow on the sides of the Alps, is considered much finer than that which is produced in other situations; but the inaccessible nature of these Alpine forests long prevented those useful trees from being sent in any great quantity to the market. During our long continental war, however, a bold and skilful plan was invented, by which this timber was procured in abundance. M. Rupp, an enterprising foreigner, constructed an immense inclined plane of wood on the sides of Mount Pilatus, near the Lake Lucerne; its length was eight miles and a half. Twenty-five thousand large pine trees were employed in its construction. These were barked and put together very ingeniously, without the aid of iron. It occupied one hundred and sixty workmen during eighteen months, and cost nearly a hundred thousand francs, or 4250_l._ sterling. It was completed in the year 1812.

The following description of the slide appeared in a German periodical shortly after its completion:--“This slide has the form of a trough, about six foot broad and from three to six foot deep. Its bottom is formed of three trees, the middle one of which has a groove cut out in the direction of its length, for receiving small rills of water, which are conducted into it from various places, for the purpose of diminishing the friction. The whole of the slide is sustained by about two thousand supports; and in many places it is attached, in a very ingenious manner, to the rugged precipices of granite.

“The direction of the slide is sometimes straight, and sometimes zig-zag, with an inclination of from 10° to 18°. It is often carried along the sides of hills and the flanks of precipitous rocks, and sometimes passes over their summits. Occasionally it goes under ground, and at other times it is conducted over the deep gorges by scaffoldings one hundred and twenty feet in height.

“The boldness which characterizes this work, the sagacity and skill displayed in all its arrangements, have excited the wonder of every person who has seen it. Before any step could be taken in its erection, it was necessary to cut several thousand trees to obtain a passage through the impenetrable thickets. All these difficulties, however, were surmounted, and the engineer had at last the satisfaction of seeing the trees descend from the mountain with the rapidity of lightning. The larger pines, which were about a hundred feet long, and ten inches thick at their smaller extremity, ran through the space of _three leagues_, or nearly _nine miles_, _in two minutes and a half_, and during their descent, they appeared to be only a few feet in length. The arrangements for this part of the operation were extremely simple. From the lower end of the slide to the upper end, where the trees were introduced, workmen were posted at regular distances, and as soon as everything was ready, the workman at the lower end of the slide cried out to the one above him, ‘_Lachez_’ (Let go.) The cry was repeated from one to another, and reached the top of the slide in _three_ minutes. The workman at the top or the slide then cried out to the one below him, ‘_Il vient_’ (It comes), and the tree was instantly launched down the slide, preceded by the cry which was repeated from post to post. As soon as the tree had reached the bottom, and plunged into the lake, the cry of _Lachez_ was repeated as before, and a new tree was launched in a similar manner. By these means a tree descended every five or six minutes, provided no accident happened to the slide, which sometimes took place, but which was instantly repaired when it did.

“In order to show the enormous force which the trees acquired from the great velocity of their descent, M. Rupp made arrangements for causing some of the trees to spring from the slide. They penetrated by their thickest extremities no less than from eighteen to twenty-four feet into the earth; and one of the trees having by accident struck against another, it instantly cleft it through its whole length, as if it had been struck by lightning.

“After the trees had descended the slide, they were collected into rafts upon the lake, and conducted to Lucerne. From thence they descended the Reuss, then the Aar to near Brugg, afterwards to Waldshut by the Rhine, then to Basle, and even to the sea when it was necessary.

“It is to be regretted that this magnificent structure no longer exists, and that scarcely a trace of it is to be seen upon the flanks of Mount Pilatus. Political circumstances having taken away the principal source of demand for the timber, and no other market having been found, the operation of cutting and transporting the trees necessarily ceased.”[4]

Professor Playfair, who visited this singular work, states, that six minutes was the usual time occupied in the descent of a tree; but that in wet weather, it reached the lake in three minutes. He found it quite impossible to give two successive strokes of his stick to any, even the largest tree, as it passed him. The logs entered the lake with such force, that many of them seemed to penetrate its waters to the very bottom. Much of the timber of Mount Pilatus was thus brought to market; but the expense attending the process rendered it impossible for the speculator to undersell the Baltic merchant, when peace had opened a market for his timber, and so the Slide of Alpnach fell to ruin.

Cutting the Norway Deals.

When the timber is squared before it is exported, it is effected by saw-mills; the manner of proceeding may be illustrated by the treatment of Norway deals. In some cases, the trees are merely roughly-shaped with the axe; but those which are to be made into deals are floated down the mountain-streams to a spot where many collect together, and where a saw-mill is erected. Dr. Clarke thus speaks of one that he visited:--“The remarkable situation of the sawing-mills, by the different cataracts, are among the most extraordinary sights a traveller meets with. The mill here was as rude and picturesque an object as it is possible to imagine; it was built with the unplaned trunks of large fir-trees, as if brought down and heaped together by the force of the river. The saws are fixed in sets parallel to each other, the spaces between them in each set being adapted to the intended thickness for the planks. A whole tree is thus divided into planks, by a simultaneous operation, in the same time that a single plank would be cut by one of the saws. We found that ten planks, each ten feet in length, were sawed in five minutes, one set of saws working through two feet of timber in a single minute.” The deals are afterwards transported by river or canal to seaports.

The Cutting and Transport of Canadian Timber.

The conveyance of timber to market in Canada is a very remarkable instance of commercial enterprise. While standing in the vast pine forests the timber-trees are common property: they acquire money-value only when the axe has been applied to them, and when they have been brought down to a shipping port.

The words _lumber_ and _lumbering_, which convey no very definite idea to us, have in Canada and the United States a large and important meaning. _Lumber_ is the general name for all kinds of timber, not only while growing in the form of stately trees, but after it is cut down, and even after it has been rudely fashioned into such pieces as may be convenient for shipment. So, in like measure, _lumbering_ may be taken as a general name for all the operations whereby the timber is brought into a marketable state; including the cutting down of the trees; the conveyance to the saw-mills; the sawing them into boards, planks, joists, and other pieces; the forming them into rafts: and the navigating of these rafts down the creeks and rivers to the seaports. All the persons employed in these operations are designated _lumberers_; and they are subdivided into smaller groups according to the duties they undertake to perform.

As the practice of lumbering has been carried on for a great number of years, all the forests in the vicinity of seaports have been denuded of their trees: and the lumberers have therefore to go far inland to obtain their supply of timber. This occasions one circle of operations to last an entire year, from summer to summer. As the lumberers who dwell in the interior frequently carry on some other occupation, perhaps an agricultural one, they cut down trees in the forest just as it suits their convenience, during the summer and autumn. These trees are either hewn and shaped into balks and beams, or divided into shorter pieces, according as they are to be exported whole, or sawed up into boards and scantlings for the American or Canadian markets.

When a large supply of timber has been thus cut down, and the winter is so far advanced that snow lies on the ground, preparations are made for conveying the timber to some stream or river which flows down to a commercial port. On the banks of such streams saw-mills worked by water-power are erected, and these are employed for cutting up such of the “lumber” as is to be sold in the form of planks. The conveyance to the saw-mills and the operation of sawing occupy together the entire winter season. When snow is on the ground, a stout pair of oxen can drag a log from the forest to the saw-mill; and this method of transport is almost universally adopted, very few horses being employed in this way. Sometimes the saw-mills are constructed in a small creek near the forest, but in other cases they are lower down, on the banks of larger streams; and in this latter case the logs are floated down the smaller streams till they arrive at the larger one, where a dam or barrier is placed across the stream to prevent them from floating beyond the precincts of the saw-mill. The saws are circular in shape. Many of the mills have but one saw in operation; others have groups of parallel saws capable of cutting the log into eight or ten planks at once. Some of the smaller mills are built in so rude and rough a manner, that their cost does not exceed 30_l._ or 40_l._; but if the mill lasts as long as the supply of timber in the neighbourhood, that is deemed sufficient, and a new mill is built when it is found advantageous to shift the quarters farther inland. A small mill with one saw, worked for twenty-four hours, will cut up three or four thousand superficial feet of timber. Men are employed to roll the logs along the gangways to a platform, and place them in a proper position to be acted on by the saw.

During the season of these operations the rivers and streams are frozen up; but in spring, when the melting of the ice renders them navigable, preparations are made for transporting the timber from the mills to the shipping ports. If the mill be on the banks of a small stream, the lumberers make up the logs and planks into rafts, the dimensions of which are suited to the capacity of the stream, and when these reach a larger stream into which the smaller one empties itself, the small rafts are broken up and re-arranged into larger ones; but if the mill be on the banks of the larger stream, the timber is at once made up into the rafts which float down to the shipping port--three or four hundred thousand feet of timber being sometimes conveyed in one raft. Sometimes the streams are too small to admit the rafts to float down them: and in such case they often lie aground for months, until an accidental flooding increases the body of water; or else they have to be broken up altogether, and other means adopted for conveying them to market. The rafts are generally put together very slightly, the value of labour being high, and the lumberers regulating the strength of the raft only in proportion to the distance which it has to float. This distance may vary from fifty to three or four hundred miles. Some one of the lumberers who may happen to be best acquainted with the stream acts as pilot, all the others following his directions in the navigation. The raft moves just as fast as the stream will convey it, be it slow or quick, no acceleration of speed being attempted by sails or oars; so that the time which elapses before the raft reaches its destination depends on many different circumstances. In some instances, where all the circumstances are favourable, the pilot navigates his cumbrous raft night and day without stopping; but if there are difficulties, he directs it into some cove or sheltered place during the night. The men are provided with long poles, by which they can regulate the position of the raft in the stream, keeping it either in the middle of the current or near the bank. The men seldom trouble themselves to make huts or cabins on the rafts: for the weather being spring, and it being optional to them to go on shore when they please, they make very few arrangements for their trip except in provisions. On the St. Lawrence, however, where the French Canadians bring down timber-rafts to Quebec for shipment, the men erect small huts or temporary dwellings on the rafts, since the voyage becomes of a more serious character.

When the rafts reach their destination, the lumber is sold, and the men share the proceeds according to the nature of their stake in the enterprise. This share is one entire year’s earnings, and the final disposal of the timber is therefore a matter of importance. The men then set out on foot to return to the interior, and as the distance they have to travel is sometimes three or four hundred miles, and the summer warmth has arrived, the journey is generally a fatiguing one. The men are not all fellow-labourers in an equal degree, for--as in almost every other kind of commercial enterprise--there must be some one to act as a capitalist, to feed the labourers while they are employed, or others who will supply necessaries in advance. There are storekeepers who purchase an annual supply of provisions, clothing, implements, &c., and retail them out to the lumberers on credit, to be paid for when the sales are effected in the spring, and when the mill-owner has been enabled to pay the wages of the men who felled, transported, and sawed the timber. If any unforeseen accident prevents the raft from reaching the shipping port in a saleable state, or if any other mishap occurs, the whole community share the loss.

The lumberers are among the roughest and rudest of the Canadian and American population: for their occupation takes them so little among the haunts of commercial or cultivated men, that they are only a few shades superior to the American Indians--in some points far beneath them.

Miscellaneous kinds of Timber.

Deal so completely takes precedence of all other timber in house-building, that a very slight notice of other varieties will suffice.

_Beech_ is partially employed in ship-building for the keel and timbers near it; but it is not at all employed, in civil architecture. The principal use made of this wood is in the construction of machines, mill-work, lock-gates, &c., and for handles to tools; it is also a good wood for the turner, being of a close grain. It will not, however, bear alternations of moisture and dryness, and is liable to be attacked by worms, so that it is not extensively employed.

_Chestnut_ belongs to the same tribe as the beech, but although a valuable wood, it is now little, if ever, used. Formerly it was extensively so, and the roofs of several ancient buildings were constructed of it. From some experiments, indeed, it seems to be as durable as oak itself.

_Ash_ is the wood for the wheelwright and the maker of agricultural implements; it is one of the most valuable of all timber trees, combining great strength with elasticity and lightness; it, however, splits easily. Ash is not used either by the shipwright or the common carpenter.

_Elm_ is a coarse-grained wood, but strong and durable, it does not work readily, and is therefore but little used. It is, however, employed for certain parts of ships, and for making casks, chests, coffins, posts for mill-work, and a few other purposes.

Next to oak and fir, the foreign wood _Mahogany_ is by far the most valuable, and that most extensively used; it is the growth of the West Indies and South America, and the tree, the _Swietenia mahogani_, is, perhaps, the most majestic of all timber trees from the enormous dimensions to which its trunk attains, its vast height and size, and its dark beautiful foliage. The mahogany of the island of Cuba, and that from the bay of Honduras, is first in estimation. There are two East Indian species, but they are not imported in any quantities into this country.

The best mahogany is that which grows in dry, cold, and exposed situations. Such wood is fine-grained, hard, and dark in colour, richly variegated, causing it from its beauty to rank among the most ornamental of fancy woods, while the light, coarse-grained wood, which grows in warm moist climates, is sufficiently abundant to be used for ordinary purposes, and yet possesses admirable properties for all, where no great strength or tenacity is wanted.

Within the last twenty years the use of this wood has increased amazingly, and some ships have many of their upper timbers above the water-line constructed of Honduras mahogany. Its use in furniture and cabinet-making is well known, and, indeed, it may be said to be the principal wood used for this purpose, and to have entirely supplanted our own walnut, which was formerly in universal use for the same purposes.

The woods above enumerated are those most extensively or largely used by the carpenter; but there are several others employed for small articles, and for particular purposes, which deserve mentioning.

_Box_ is the wood of the _Buxus sempervirens_, a hardy evergreen plant, indigenous in all the southern parts of Europe and Western Asia, and long domesticated in our shrubberies. Box is especially the wood for turning, it being closer-grained, denser, and tougher than perhaps all others, except _iron-wood_, _Lignum Vitæ_, and one or two rarer woods. Box is used for rules, scales, and for small cabinet works; but that which gives it particular importance is its universal use for wood-engraving.

_Lance_ is the name given to the wood of the _Guatteria virgata_, a tree indigenous to Jamaica, and one of the most important that are so, from the valuable qualities of its timber, lance-wood far exceeding our ash in lightness, strength, and elasticity; hence it is admirably calculated for shafts to carriages, handles to spears, and for all purposes where straight, light, flexible, and tough wood is required. It is neither so close-grained nor so hard as box, but it turns well, and does not split; in colour, it is lighter than box.

_Ebony_ is the name given to the wood of several different trees, which agree in being dark-coloured, dense, and durable; it is used for inlaying and for making rules or scales, as not being liable to warp. It is an excellent wood for turning; but, except for these purposes, it is less in request now than formerly, when it was much used in cabinet-making.

_Lignum Vitæ_ is the wood of the _Guaiacum officinale_, a large tree indigenous in the West Indies. This wood is the hardest and heaviest known, and can only be worked in the lathe. It is much used for making the _sheaves_, or pulleys of blocks used in shipping, and for friction-rollers, &c.

There are various foreign woods which, from their beautiful grain and varied tints, are used in cabinet-making. But as these woods are too valuable to be used solid, they are sawed into thin leaves, called _veneers_, which are glued down on a backing of ordinary mahogany. The principal of these fancy woods are--

_Rose-wood_, which is produced by a tree a native of Brazil. This wood is much used for furniture, both as a veneer, and solid for legs of tables, chairs, &c.

_King-wood_ is also the produce of Brazil; it is a dark chocolate wood, veined with fine black veins.

_Beef-wood_ comes from New Holland; is of a pale-red even tint, and intensely hard and heavy. It is used for inlaying and bordering.

_Tulip-wood_ is a wood of a clouded red and yellow colour, and very hard, and used for bordering to larger woods. The tree is unknown to our botanists.

_Zebra-wood_ is a large-sized tree, and abundant enough to be used as a veneer in large furniture, like rose-wood: it is more curious than elegant.

_Satin-wood_ is well known for its glossy yellowish tint, from which it derives its name; there are two varieties.

_Maple_, from our own indigenous tree, is a very elegant wood, of a light colour, or else, near the root, variegated with knots and twisted grain. It is much used in fancy work.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] The Mines of Bolanos, in Mexico, are supplied with timber from the adjacent mountains by a slide similar to that of Alpnach. It was constructed by M. Floresi, a gentleman well acquainted with Switzerland.