NEW ZEALAND TIMBER

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 75, 21 December 1929, Page 13

NEW ZEALAND TIMBER

Sir, —In “The Dominion” of December 10 there was an article re building kilns for drying timber, with the idea of making the timber, put through them more durable. During the last forty odd years oil one farm I have studied the use of split and sawn timber in all its uses. From the above experience I have proved that there is only one time of the year in which to fell trees for any purpose, and that is when the sap is down. The New Zealand forests arc nowhere surpassed in any part of the world for general use. The totara and kauris are two remarkable trees and can be used anywhere where wood is used for construction for durability, but when felled at tthe wrong season they both are attacked by the borer of more than one species. It is possible to mill trees at no extra cost whatever, so that the product when placed in the proper way will last two and three times as long when exposed to the atmosphere. The only thing necessary to get these results is to use the eye. All that is necessary when the log is on the bench is to run out all boarding as much as possible on the quarter for weatherboarding and when used for building put the inner side or that side nearest to the tree centre uppermost. The amount of repair and upkeep of homes in New Zealand built of locallygrown timber must be enormous. When trees arc felled with the sap up and milled the timber will shrink, warp and smell as the atmosphere changes. There is only one way of improving out-of-sea-son timber and that is by pickling it in some preservative to prevent borer and decay. The place to see the wrong use of timber is in a wooden wharf, wooden bridges or wooden verandas that have been built some time. —I am, etc.. MATAURANGA A RAKAU. .WugatHU, December. 12.