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_.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.
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.
[Illustration: The Norway Spruce Fir.]
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration: The Scotch Fir.]
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.”
[Illustration: Leaves and Male Blossom of Scotch Fir.]
[Illustration: Cone of Scotch Fir.]
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.