The felling of timber was looked upon by ancient architects as a matter of much moment. According to Vitruvius, the proper time for felling is between October and February, and he directs that the trees should be cut to the pith, and then suffered to remain till the sap be drained out. The effusion of the sap prevents the decay of the timber, and when it is all drained out, and the wood becomes dry, the trees are to be cut down, when the wood will be excellent for use. A similar effect might be produced by placing the timber on its end as soon as it is felled, and it would, no doubt, compensate for the extra expense by its durability in use. In France, so long ago as 1669, a royal order limited the felling of naval timber from the 1st October to 15th April, when the “wind was at north,” and “in the wane of the moon.” Buonaparte directed that the time for felling naval timber should be “in the decrease of the moon, from 1st November to 15th March,” in order to render it more durable. In England, in the first year of James I., there was an Act of Parliament prohibiting every one from cutting oak timber, except in the barking season, under a severe penalty. James I. was not the only English sovereign who has been concerned with timber trees; for King John was obliged to cancel at Runnemede the cruel forest laws enacted by his father, William the Conqueror, especially those restricting the people from fattening their hogs. Up to a recent period large droves of hogs were fattened upon the acorns of the New Forest in Hampshire. At the present time the hogs of Estremadura are principally fed upon the acorns of the _Ballota_ oak; and to this cause is assigned the great delicacy of their flesh. A Berkshire labourer, living near Windsor Forest, thus speaks of the delicacy of acorn-fed pork: “Well, that be pretty like the thing. I hadn’t tasted the like o’ that this many a day. It is so meller--when you gets your teeth on it, you thinks you has it; but afore you knows where you is, ain’t it wanished!”