It is straight as an arrow, and has no branches but very near the
top. It is from twenty to forty inches in diameter at its base, and
appears like a stately pillar, adorned with a verdant capital, in form
of a cone. Interspersed among these are the common forest trees of
various kinds.
When a mast tree is to be felled, much preparation is necessary. So tall
a stick, without any limbs nearer the ground than eighty or a hundred
feet, is in great danger of breaking in the fall. To prevent this the
workmen have a contrivance which they call bedding the tree, which is
thus executed. They know in what direction the tree will fall; and they
cut down a number of smaller trees which grow in that direction; or if
there be none, they draw others to the spot, and place them so that the
falling tree may lodge on their branches; which breaking or yielding
under its pressure, render its fall easy and safe. A time of deep snow
is the most favorable season, as the rocks are then covered, and a
natural bed is formed to receive the tree. When fallen, it is examined,
and if to appearance it be sound, it is cut in the proportion of three
feet in length to every inch of its diameter, for a mast; but if
intended for a bow-sprit or a yard, it is cut shorter.
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