proper equivalent, for the constant shade and moisture, which they enjoy on the cloud-capped tops of their native hills.

It was our intention to have submitted, in this place, a few practical hints on the subject of planting. But as complete directions may be found in books easily accessible, we have concluded rather to occupy the space with an account of the mode in which the business of procuring timber and boards, commonly called lumbering or logging, is carried on in the principal timber regions in Maine. This account was furnished us by a highly intelligent friend residing in Bangor; and we trust may be interesting, from its own merit, as well as from the importance of the branch of industry which it describes.

"When a lumberer has concluded to log on a particular tract, the first step is to go with a part of his hands, and select suitable situations for building his camps. In making this selection, his object is to be as near as possible to the best clumps of timber he intends to haul, and to the streams into which he intends to haul it. He then proceeds to build his camps, and to cut out and clear out his principal roads. The camps are built of logs, being a kind of log houses. They are made about three feet high on one side and eight or nine on the other, with a roof slanting one way. The roof is made of shingles, split out of green wood, and laid upon rafters. The door is made of such boards as can be manufactured out of a log with an axe. Against the tallest side of the camp is built the chimney; the back being formed by the wall of the camp, and the sides made by green logs, piled up for jams, about eight feet apart. The chimney seldom rises above the roof of the camp; though some, who are nice in their architectural notions, sometimes carry it up two or three feet higher. It is obvious, from the construction, that nothing but the greenness of the timber prevents the camp from being burnt up immediately. Yet the great fires that are kept up, make but little impression, in the course of the winter, upon the back or sides of the chimney. A case, however, happened within a year or two, where a camp took fire in the night, and was consumed, and the lumberers in it were burnt to death. Probably the shingle roof had become dry, in which case a spark would kindle it, and the flames would spread over it in a

moment.

"Parallel to the lower side of the building, and about six feet from it, a stick of timber runs on the ground across the camp. The space between this and the lower wall is appropriated to the bedding; the stick of timber serving to confine it in its

place. The bedding consists of a layer of hemlock boughs spread upon the ground, and covered with such old quilts and blankets, as the tenants can bring away from their homes. The men camp down together, with their heads to the lower wall and their feet towards the fire. Before going to bed, they replenish their fire; some two or more of them being employed in putting on such logs, as with their handspikes they can manage to pile into the chimney. As the walls of the building are not very tight, the cool air plays freely round the head of the sleeper, making a difference of temperature between the head and the feet not altogether agreeable to one unused to sleep in camps. A rough bench and table complete the furniture of the establishment. A camp very similar, though not so large in its dimensions, is built near for the oxen. On the top of this the hay is piled up, giving it some warmth, while it is convenient for feeding.

"A large logging concern will require a number of camps, which will be distributed over the tract, so as best to accommodate the timber. One camp serves generally for one or two teams. A team, in ordinary logging parlance, expresses, not only the set of four or six oxen that draw the logs, but likewise a gang of men employed to tend them. It takes from three or four to seven or eight men, to keep one team employed; one man being employed in driving the cattle, and the others in cutting down the trees, cutting them into logs, barking them, and cutting and clearing the way to each tree. The number of hands required, depends upon the distance to be hauled inversely. That is, most hands are required when the distance is shortest; because the oxen, returning more frequently, require their loads to be prepared more expeditiously.

"Having built their camps, or while building them, the main roads are to be cut out. These run from the camps to the landing places, or some stream of sufficient size to float down the logs on the spring freshet. Other roads are cut to other clumps of timber. They are made by cutting and clearing away the underbrush, and such trees and old logs as may be in the way, to a sufficient width for the team of oxen, with the bob sled and timber on it, to pass conveniently. The bob sled is made to carry one end of the timber only; the other drags upon the ground. And the bark is chipped off, that the log may slip along more easily.

"The teams proceed to the woods when the first snows come, with the hands who are not already there, and the supplies. The supplies consist principally of pork and flour for the men, and Indian meal for the oxen. Some beans, tea, and molasses,

are added. Formerly hogsheads of rum were considered indispensable, and I have before me a bill of supplies for a logging concern of three teams in 1827-28, in which I find one hundred and eighty gallons of rum charged. But of late, very few respectable lumberers take any spirits with them. And the logging business is consequently carried on with much more method, economy, and profit. The pork and flour must be of the best quality. Lumberers are seldom content to take any of an inferior sort; and even now, when flour is twelve dollars a barrel, they are not to be satisfied with the coarser bread stuffs. Hay is procured as near to the camps as possible. But as most of the timber lands are remote from settlements, it is generally necessary to haul it a considerable distance. And as it must be purchased of the nearest settlers, they are enabled to obtain very high prices. From twelve to twenty dollars per ton is usually paid. When the expense of hauling it to the camp is added, the whole cost is frequently as high as thirty dollars a ton, and sometimes much higher. Owners of timber lands at a distance from settlements, may make a great saving, by clearing up a piece of their land, and raising their own hay.

"Some one of the hands, who has not so much efficiency in getting timber, as skill in kneading bread and frying pork, is appointed to the office of cook. Salt pork, flour, bread and tea, constitute the regular routine of the meals, varied sometimes with salt fish or salt beef. Potatoes are used when they can be had. Now and then, perhaps, when the snow is deep, they catch a deer and live on venison.

"The men are employed through the day, in cutting the timber and driving the teams. In the evening some take care of the oxen; some cut wood for the fire; then they amuse themselves with stories and singing, or in other ways, until they feel inclined to turn in upon the universal bed. On Sundays the employer claims no control over their time, beyond the taking care of the cattle, the fire and the cooking. On this day, they do their washing and mending; some employ themselves besides, in seeking timber and some in hunting partridges; whilst some remain in the camp and read the Bible.

"They remain in the woods from the commencement of sledding, some time in December, until some time in March; in the course of which month, their labors are usually brought to a close, either by the snow's getting too shallow or too deep. If there are heavy thaws, the snow runs off, not leaving enough to make good hauling. If, on the other hand, it gets to be four or five feet deep, the oxen cannot break through it, to make the path which it is necessary to form, in order to get at each indi

Some

vidual tree. The men and teams then leave the woods. times one or two remain, to be at hand, when the streams open. I know one, who last winter stayed by himself in the woods, fifteen or twenty miles from the nearest habitation, for the space of twenty-eight days; during which time he earned $203 by getting in timber with his axe alone, being allowed for it at the same rate per thousand that the lumberers were, in getting it in with their teams. He found some berths in the banks of the stream, where all that was necessary was to fell the tree so that it should fall directly upon the water, and there cut it into logs to be ready for running.

"When the streams are opened, and there is a sufficient freshet to float the timber, another gang, called "river drivers," take charge of it. It is their business to start it from the banks, and follow it down the river, clearing off what lodges against rocks, pursuing and bringing back the sticks that run wild among the bushes and trees, that cover the low lands adjoining the river, and breaking up jams that form in narrow or shallow places. A jam is caused by obstacles in the river catching some of the sticks, which in their turn catch others coming down, and so the mass increases until a solid dam is formed, which entirely stops up the river, and prevents the further passage of any logs. These dams are most frequently formed at the top of some fall. And it is often a service that requires much skill and boldness, and is attended with much danger, to break them up. The persons who undertake it must go on to the mass of logs, work some out with their pickpoles, cut some to pieces, attach ropes to others to be hauled out by the hands on shore, and they must be on the alert to watch the moment of the starting of the timber, and exercise all their activity to get clear of it, before they are carried off in its tumultuous rush.

"Some weeks, more or less, according to the distance, spent in this way, brings the timber to the neighbourhood of the saw mills. A short distance above Oldtown, on the Penobscot, there is a boom established, extending across the river, for the purpose of stopping all the logs that come down. It is made by a floating chain of logs connected by iron links, and supported at suitable distances, by solid piers built in the river; without this it would be impossible to stop a large part of the logs, and they would be carried on the freshet down the river, and out to sea. The boom is owned by an individual, who derives a large profit from the boomage, which is thirty-five cents per thousand on all logs coming into it. The boom cost the present owner about $40,000. He has offered it for sale for $45,000. It is said the net income from it last year, was $15,000.

"Here all the logs that come down the Penobscot, are collected in one immense mass, covering many acres, where is intermingled the property of all the owners of timber lands, in all the broad region that is watered by the Penobscot and its branches, from the east line of Canada above Moosehead Lake, on the one side, to the west line of New Brunswick, on the other. Here the timber remains, till the logs can be sorted out for each owner, and rafted together to be floated to the mills, or other places below. Rafting is the connecting the logs together, by cordage, which is secured by pins driven into each log, forming them into bands, like the ranks of a regiment. This operation is performed by the owner of the boom. The ownership of the timber is ascertained by the marks which have been chopped into each log before it left the woods; each owner having a mark, or combination of marks, of his own. When the boom is full, only the logs lowest down can be got at, and the proprietors of other logs must wait weeks, sometimes months, before they can get them out, to their great inconvenience and damage.

"After the logs are rafted, and out of the boom, a great part of them are lodged for convenience, in a place called Pen Cove, which is a large and secure basin in the river, about two miles below the boom. From this cove they can be taken out as they are wanted for the mills below. While in the boom, and at other places on the river, they are liable to great loss from plunderers. The owners or drivers of logs will frequently smuggle all that come in their way, without regard to marks. The owners or conductors of some of the mills on the river are said to be not above encouraging and practising this species of piracy. Indeed timber, in all its stages, seems to be considered a fair object for plunderers, from the petty pilferer who steals into the woods, fells a tree, cuts it into shingles and carries it out on his back, to the comparatively rich owner of thousands of dollars.

"When the logs have been sawn at the mills, there is another rafting of the boards, which are floated down the river to Bangor, to be embarked on board the coasters for Boston. In this process they are subject to much injury, first by the mode of catching them as they come from the mill sluices, the rafters making use of a picaroon, or pole with a spike in the end of it, which is repeatedly and unmercifully driven into the boards, taking out perhaps a piece at each time; secondly, by the holes made by the pins driven into the boards in rafting; and thirdly, by the rocks and rapids and shallows in the river, breaking the rafts to pieces, and splitting up the boards as they descend. These inconveniences will be partly remedied by the railroad now in