Polyporus sulphureus — (On White Poplar)
Polyporus sulphureus attacks many species of trees—yew, poplar, etc.
Chapter XXIII Barking Oak
Previous to the war the price of oak bark—about £2 10s. per ton—rendered it questionable whether from a purely financial point of view the operations of stripping and harvesting should be undertaken. Now, however, with bark at fully three times that figure, the operation is to be recommended.
The period of bark-stripping and harvesting is one of the most anxious seasons of the year with the forester, as the quality of the bark is so largely dependent upon the weather during the time that intervenes between the stripping and stacking, or delivery, and not less so upon the carrying out of the work at the proper time, to secure easy and expeditious peeling. In most cases the time when the bud is just expanding into leaf is that which gives the greatest weight of bark of the best quality, with the smallest amount of labour. By deferring the work, even for a few days, there is often a loss in weight amounting to as much as 10 per cent., and a great deterioration in quality.
Even in the most favoured situations it is seldom that the season for stripping extends beyond twenty-eight days. The advantages of early stripping are so well known that any comment on the subject is unnecessary; suffice it to say that, immediately the bark commences to “run” freely, no time should be lost in making a start, and the work should be prosecuted with vigour and dispatch until completed.
The proper time to commence barking cannot, however, be fixed with any amount of certainty, much depending on the season, whether early or late, as well as on the district of the country in which the operation is to be performed. During ordinary seasons, and in most parts of England, bark-stripping commences during the third week in April and continues for about a month, or until such time as the trees are in full leafage, whereas in some parts of Scotland, especially the north, the operation is frequently nearly a month later. No mistake can, however, arise as to the right time to start barking in any locality, as in all cases the period when the bud is first bursting into leaf will be found the proper time for felling to insure easy stripping and the best quality of bark. As the season of bark-stripping is, therefore, of short duration, every preparation should be made beforehand—trees marked and numbered, tools in readiness, and squads arranged—so that an early start may be made, as, by deferring the work beyond the time stated above, there is not only a perceptible loss in weight, but considerable deterioration in the quality of bark as well.
Elaborate directions regarding the arrangements of squads and tools to be used are unnecessary, as almost every district has its own peculiarities in this way. The tools generally in use are heavy axes and the cross-cut saw for felling, hand-bills and saws for pruning, peeling-irons or chisels for removing the bark, scrapers for removing moss, and light wooden mallets for beating refractory bark or such as cannot be removed by the peeling-irons alone.
Previously to felling the trees a man or stout lad is sent before, who removes the bark from the root upwards for a distance of 2 ft. or 3 ft.; this not only prevents its being injured when laying in and felling the tree, but is convenient for after-stripping as well. When the stools are intended for reproduction great care is necessary to avoid tearing or loosening the bark from the roots. After being thus prepared the trees are felled in the usual manner, those under 6 in. in diameter being cut with the axe; above that size it is found an economy of time and timber to fell with the cross-cut saw. Following in the rear of the cutters should be a squad of men, to clear the trunk and larger limbs of all branches down to 1 in. in diameter, leaving the limbs to be peeled as part of the tree.
Heavy timber and large branches are usually peeled where they fall, but it will be found convenient to have the smaller trees and branches carried out to some open space adjoining the stacking ground, and peeled while one end is supported by means of two forked sticks placed against each other. When the bark of small branches cannot readily be removed by the peeling-iron, a smooth and flat stone is brought into use, beside which the peeler sits, and with one hand holds the branch on the stone, moving it along from one end to the other, at the same time applying the mallet with the other hand until the bark becomes loosened from the wood. Here it may be well to issue a caution against a too frequent use of the mallet, which should never be brought into request when the bark can be otherwise removed from the wood, as all hammering and beating not only diminishes the quality of tannin, but has a tendency to blacken the fleshy part of the bark and cause rapid decay in a bad season. The body, or trunk bark, is removed in lengths of from 30 in. to 36 in., and in as large pieces as possible.