The Vermont Transcript

Curious Facts in Cutting Timber.

Cut-timber from the middle of September to the middle of December, and you cannot get a worm into it. October and November are perhaps the best months, and sure to avoid the worms.

You cut from March to June and you cannot save the timber from worms or borers. May used to be called 'peeling time in my boyhood; much was then done in procuring bark for the tanner's use; whereas in October all the pores are empty—then is the time to cut, and there will be no worms. When you see an ox-bow with the bark tight, there are no worms, no powderpost, and you cannot separate it from the wood. and what is true in one kind is true in all kinds of timber. and every kind has its peculiar kind of worms, and these worms work for many years. I have found them alive and at work in white oak spokes that had been in my girt over twelve years, and they were much larger than at first; they do not stop in the sap but continue into the solid part. I do not think of buying timber unless it is cut in the time above alluded to. I have wondered that there has not been more said on this subject, as it is one of great importance, even for firewood, and especially for ship building, &c.—Correspondent Boston Recorder.