Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/189

165&#93; BAR It deserves, however, to be re- marked, that, when thus deprived of the whole bark, and suffered to die gradually, they afford a more compact, heavy, and more dura- ble timber, than if they had been felled in their healthy state. The reason of this improvement is ob- vious, as those oily and astringent fluids, which are secreted for the uniform nourishment of the bark, are absorbed and deposited on the fibres of the wood, which, during the progressive dissolution of vege- table life, acquire what Nature had provided for the supply of the ex- ternal integuments. Yet there is one disadvantage arising from the privation of the bark, perhaps tan- tamount to the additional value of the timber, namely, that the far- mer increase, or growth of the tree, is for three or four years effectually checked. The barking of trees ought, in our climate, to be performed in spring, from about the middle of April to that of May ; because at that time the circulating sap facili- tates this operation, which, in dry seasons is not only attended with additional labour, but the bark also will be of inferior value. With respect to the extent of stripping the oak-bark from trees, a wide difference of opinion ap- pears to prevail. Some owners of large tracts of wood, and great ad- mirers of timber, cautiously pro- hibit the removal of the bark nearer than six inches to the ground) about which spot they suppose the tree to be felled : while others en- join it to be done as near the ground as possible, provided that in this operation there be no part of the root laid bare. Mr. S. Hayes, the author of an excellent " Prac- tical Treatise on Planting" price BAR [165 7s. published in 1796, inclines to the latter opinion j and adds, that the advocates for the former me- thod would, on more accurate in- vestigation, save themselves much unnecessary trouble, to little pur- pose, if not to their considerable injury. The inner and more delicate part of the bark, especially that of the ash and lime trees, was used by the ancients, for writing and communicating their sublime ideas to posterity, prior to die invention of paper. In economy, as well as in many of the practical arts, the utility of different barks is very great and extensive ; for instance, that of the oak for tanning leather, and manuring the soil ; the Peruvian, cinnamon, quassia, willow-bark, &c. in medicine and for culinary uses ; that of the alder and walnut trees in dyeing; and others again for a variety of purposes, such as the bark of the cork tree, &c. &c. Without detailing the particular and curious processes adopted by foreign nations, for rendering the barks of various trees essentially useful, we shall briefly state, that the Japanese make their beautiful paper of the bar c obtained from a species of die mulberry tree, called nwrus} the natives of Otaheite manufacture their clodi of the same tree, as well as the bread-fruit and die cocoa trees 3 the Russians and Poles produce their shoes worn by the peasantry, twist ropes, and form a variety of other useful articles, of the inner bark of the lime tree ; the Germans have, tor the last twenty yens, convert- ed the bark of the common black and wiiite mulberry trees into ex- cellent paper. — An analytical ac- count of die last mentioned article, M 3 inter-