--To season Wood.--Green wood cannot be employed in carpentry,
as it is very weak; it also warps, cracks, and becomes rotten: wood dried
with too great a heat loses its toughness as well as its pliability: it
becomes hard and brittle. Green wood is seasoned by washing out the sap,
and then drying it thoroughly. The traveller's way of doing this by one
rapid operation, is to dig a long trench and make a roaring fire in it;
when the ground is burning hot, sweep the ashes away, deluge the trench
with boiling water; and in the middle of the clouds of steam that arise,
throw in the log of wood, shovel hot earth over it, and leave it to steam
and bake. A log thick enough to make an axletree may thus be somewhat
seasoned in a single night. The log would be seasoned more thoroughly if
it were saturated with boiling water before putting it into the trench;
that can be done by laying it in a deep narrow puddle, and shovelling hot
stones into the water. All crowbars, wagon-lifters, etc., should be
roughly seasoned as green wood is far too weak for such uses. The regular
way of seasoning is to leave the timber to soak for a long time in water,
that the juices may be washed out. Fresh water is better for this purpose
than salt; but a mineral spring, if it is warm is better than cold fresh
water. Parties travelling with a wagon ought to fell a little timber on
their outward journey, and leave it to season against their return, in
readiness to replace strained axletrees, broken poles, and the like.
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