Should Cut Timber In Winter, Not Summer, To Gain Best Results

Northern Advocate, 29 April 1944, Page 3

Should Cut Timber In Winter, Not Summer, To Gain Best Results

The great mistake of cutting timber in summertime instead of confining cutting to wintertime, because of the vast difference in the durable qualities of wood milled at the proper season of the year, was the subject of an interesting and thoughtful address given by Mr. W. M. Fraser, at the annual meeting «>f the North Auckland Forest Society last night. •’ln museums throughout the world mav be seen Maori artifacts made of New Zealand woods, and our New Zealand collections of Maori telics, fashioned from native timbers, include richly carved trinket-boxes, ceremonial staffs and fielding weapons, culinary utensils, excavating and agricultural tools, carve.! pieces of house timbers, and complete canoes,” said Mr. Fraser. “None of these objects is of recent manufacture, and the age of many of them would perhaps run into hundreds of years. .As a result of swamp draining, dredging, changing oT stream courses and the drifting of sand dunes, etc., the white man. after residing in this country for over a century, is still coming across specimens of woodwork fashioned by craftsmen of the stone ago. In most cases the woods of which the articles as enumerated above are composed arc in a remarkably good state of preservation, and in many instances apparently imperishable. Contrast Today “Compare the condition of those ancient relics with the wood used .at the present day in our buildings, ships, fences, furniture and tools, and what do we find? Because we cannot trust our timbers, we now use concrete for houseblocks; and we have specialists employed by public companies travelling around the count rj with expensive paraphernalia killing' borer in new houses .it nil forcing chemicals into the wood nT’*S4 ai to prevent dry-rot and other fotlts gg decay. • Why has the nature of woods changed? The answer is because we are cutting down our forest timber trees in tiie summer when the wood is full of sap, and dead sap rots the wood. The old Maori, by means of natural signs, knew within a few days the best time to cut down each of the different kinds of trees required for his use, and the cutting period covered June, July and August, when the sap had left the tree and before it had begun to rise again. Whangarei Proof ‘•The Nova Scotians felled their trees for shipbuilding and other purposes in the winter, and hauled the lumber to Mte shipyards for seasoning and dressing in the earlv summer, hence their ships were renowned for their durability. The immigrants from Nova Scotia who settled in this part of New Zealand followed she same practice hero, with the result t liftt the timber in houses built. by those people and other early settlers move than SO yea us ago is still in sound condition. •■The residence built by M. Eugene Caller, near the Whangarei Town Wharf, in 1857, was recently pulled down, when the wood, even to the kauri shingles on the roof, was found to he free from bovei or decay, and portion of the kauri picket fence, built around the garden at the same lime by that sturdy old French pioneer, is still in use and defying the ravages of time. “During the present month the house which stood on ‘Belveu,’ Uuukakn. for the past 90 years, built of 2in. thick kauri to withstand the bullets of the Maori warriors, was dismantled, not for the reason that it was rotten hut because the timber in it was wanted for a new building to be erected some miles away from the old site. Sap Like Blood "Today, under modern practice, we sea lorries passing along our roads during the summer months on their way to the mills, laden with green timber logs freshly cut from the forest. We also see the carts from the abattoir full of fresh meat. In this case, however, the butcher lakes care that the blood is taken from the beast immediately it is .slaughtered, as

otherwise he knows the meat would not keep. And sap in it tree corresponds will) blood in tin animal. “The Whangarei Harbour Board built it large hopper barge of 2in. and MtTt. thickkauri planking. Every stick was eatvfullv selected, straight-grained heartwood, and well seasoned before being used. It was estimated that the useful life of this barge would be 40 to 50 years, hut one day, after about HI years’ service, it was found that dry-rot had at tacked the vessel throughout so extensively as to render her quite useless, and she was broken up. Various theories were advanced by timber experts for the premature collapse of this vessel, and not one of them attributed the failure to the fact, of the timber having been cut from trees felled during the summer months. Use to Best Advantage “Last week, while at Ngungnru, I saw lying at anchor the one-time crack yacht Ulio, now a fishing smack, and on speaking to the owner was informed that the old girl was a,s sound and seaworthy as the day she was launched. The Clio was built by the Edwards’ at Vaikaraka 55 years ago, and her timbers include pointtukawa, pnriri, and kauri planking. Like the Maori canoe-builders of old, the Edwards’ would not waste their time working a stick of wood unless they were quite sure it came from a tree which had been cut down at the right time of Hie year and, of course, properly seasoned. “The quantity of millable timber in the remnants of our native forests is rapidly diminishing, and Hie foregoing notes are presented merely as a suggestion that, it till those trees must he sacrificed, they should he utilised to the very best advantage. "Regulations might be issued under which our green timber trees intended fox- commercial purposes could be felled and crosscut in the. winter only, and l submit that the additional cost, if any. that would be involved by such an arrangement would be negligible when considering the great gain to he made hy the increased value and life of the timber.” „

Mr. F.. L. Whitnp endorsed Mr. Fraser's contentions and instances the cutting down ol’ a kauri tree with two trunks. One trunk, out in the summer, did not provide durable timber, but the other, cut in the winter, provided timber of the most durable kind. Mr. Fraser was complimented on Ins report, and was accorded a vote of thanks, but no decision was made.