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their Trees so Dried and Hardened, that the Sappy part, in a manner, becomejas firm and durable, as the Heart it self.

Which way os Barkjng and Feiiing os T imber, tho’ it were unknown to theAncients ( as perhaps it is to ah the World besides these few Counties ) yetthey seem not unacquainted with the Rationality os the Practice. The GreatVitruvius prefers the Umber on the South-fidc the Apenninc (where it windsabout and incloses Tuscany and Campania , and strongly Reflects the constantHeats os the Sun upon it, as it were from a Concave, ) incomparably beforethat which grows upon the Northsidc os the fame Hili, in the shady moistGrounds: os which his Opinion he renders us this Reason, for that the Sundoes not only lick up the superfluous Moisture os the Eanh, whence the Trcesare sopplied in soch Shady Places with too great a Quantity, but in greatmeasore Exhales the remaining Juices (aster the Production of Leaves andFruits ) out os the 1'rces themselvts, Rendering the Timber os them the moreClosc, Substantial and Durable ; which certainly it would do alio rnuch moreeffectually, is the Bark. were taken off in the Spring ot the Ycar, as is accu-stomed in Stajfordfhire, where the People are conterit to ufe this Method intheir Provision os T imber, though but for private Ules.

Much rarher then should it be done in so PublicIi a Concern as the Build-ing of Ships, where Tough and Solid Timbcr is much more ncceffary ihan inOrdinary Buildings. There is indeed an /ici of Parliamcnt. i Jac.i. Chap.zz.which sorbids Feiiing of Timber for Ordinary Usos (in consideratiori of theTan ) at any other time but bctwecn the First of April and the Last of Jh«?,when the Sap is up and the Bark. will Run ; made on Suppoiltion ( I guess )that should they have admirted Feiiing Timber in any other Season, the Tan-nen would have wanted a Supply of Bark- To which I readily answer, That1 fear the Lcgiflators that prefled the making that Aci, were ignorant that theBarii might be taken off in the Spring , and that the T ree would notwith-standing Live and Florish till the Winter sollowing, as I have soen many inStaffordshirc : So that though the Tree be not FclCd till the Hinter So/fiicc, orJanuary sollowing, yet the Tanner is not at all deseated of hisTa«, but has it herein as due Season, as in any of the Southern Counties. The Lcgiflators , I say,were ignorant of this, otherways they would never have made an Aci so Per-nicious to the whole Kingdom, as Feiiing Timber at this Season is, for the falceof a few Tanner s.

But notwithstanding this Ignorance, yet then they were so Wiso as to ex-cept in that AH the Timber to be uled in Building of Ships , which may beFclfd in Hinter , or any other time; as I am told ali the ancient Timber remaining in the Rpyal Sovereign was, it being still so hard that ’tis no easie mat-ter to drive a Nail into it.

’Tis true indeed that the Barking and PceJing the Tree Standing is somewhatmore Troublesome, and therefore somewhat more Chargeable, than when theyare Prostrate; and that ’tis likely, People therefore have usoally FelCd theilTimber , as well for Shipping as other Usos, in the Spring of the Year, for thefake of the more easie and cheap Barkjng it only, rather than any thing elfeT’istrue too, that Timber U harder to Fell in the Hinter, it being now so Com-

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