CHAP. 74.—THE FELLING OF TREES.
The proper time for felling trees that are wanted for
barking, the round, tapering trees, for instance, that are employed in temples and for other purposes, is at the period of
germination:
1 for at other times it is quite impossible to
detach the bark from the rotten wood that adheres to it, while
the wood itself assumes a blackish hue. Squared logs, and
wood from which the bark has been lopped, are generally cut
in the period that intervenes between the winter solstice and
the prevalence of the west winds; or else, if it is necessary
to anticipate that period, at the setting of Arcturus and
before that of the Lyre, the very earliest period being the
summer solstice: the days of these respective constellations
will be mentioned in the appropriate place.
2
In general it is looked upon as quite sufficient to use all
due precaution that a tree is not rough-hewn before it has
borne its yearly crop. The robur, if cut in spring, is subject
to the attacks of wood-worm, but if cut in winter, will neither
rot nor warp: otherwise it is very liable to bend and become
awry, as well as to crack; the same is the case, too, with the
cork-tree, even if cut down at the proper time. The state of
the moon,
3 too, is of infinite importance, and it is generally
recommended that trees should be cut only between the twentieth and the thirtieth days of the month. It is generally
agreed, however, by all, that it is the very best time for
felling timber, when the moon is in conjunction with the
sun, a day which is called by some persons the interlu-
nium, and by others the moon's silence. At all events, it was
under these circumstances that Tiberius Cæsar gave orders
for the larches to be cut in Rhætia, that were required for
the purpose of rebuilding the bridge of the Naumachia
4 after
it had been destroyed by fire. Some persons say that the
moon ought not only to be in conjunction, but below the horizon as well, a thing that can only happen in the night. If the
conj unction should chance to fall on the very day of the winter
solstice, the timber, they say, that is then felled will be of everlasting duration; the next best being the timber that is cut
when the conjunction coincides with the constellations previously mentioned. There are some, too, who add the rising
of the Dog-star as a favourable time, and say that it was at
this period that the timber was cut which was employed in
building the Forum of Augustus.
Wood which is intended for timber ought to be cut neither
when too young nor too old. Some persons, too—and the practice is by no means without its utility—cut round
5 the tree as
far as the pith, and then leave the timber standing, so that all
the juices may be enabled to escape. Going back to ancient
times, it is a remarkable fact, that in the first Punic War the
fleet commanded by Duillius was on the water within sixty
days from the time the timber was cut: and, what is still
more so, Piso relates that King Hiero had two hundred and
twenty ships wholly constructed in forty-five days: in the
second Punic War, too, the fleet of Scipio was at sea the fortieth
day after the axe had been put to the tree. Such is the
energy and dispatch that can be displayed on occasions of
emergency.