Marcus Vitruvius Pollio commonly known as Vitruvius, was a Roman author, architect, civil engineer, and military engineer during the 1st century BC. In one of his books about Roman Architecture he wrote following about the lost technique of forgotten forestry injuring growing trees on purpose:
"In felling a tree we should cut into the trunk of it to the very heart, and then leave it standing so that the sap may drain out drop by drop throughout the whole of it. In this way the useless liquid which is within will run out through the sapwood instead of having to die in a mass of decay, thus spoiling the quality of the timber. Then and not till then, the tree being drained dry and the sap no longer dripping, let it be felled and it will be in the highest state of usefulness.
That this is so may be seen in the case of fruit trees. When these are tapped at the base and pruned, each at the proper time, they pour out from the heart through the tapholes all the superfluous and corrupting fluid which they contain, and thus the draining process makes them durable. But when the juices of trees have no means of escape, they clot and rot in them, making the trees hollow and good for nothing. Therefore, if the draining process does not exhaust them while they are still alive, there is no doubt that, if the same principle is followed in felling them for timber, they will last a long time and be very useful in buildings.""
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, 20 AD, Rome.
Trees have two cell types - xylem for water going up and phloem for sugars going down. Girdling cuts the xylem water cells, spot cuts on phloem allow sugar sap to ooze out of wood as it comes down. This makes for a dry sap free wood. In early spring xylem carries stored sugar sap up the tree for new growth. Sometimes the sap pressure is so great that trees have bark blasts which can be heard far away.
"When our father needed good timber, he went to the pine forest in spring time when the juices start to run to cut a ring around the growing pine 50cm from the ground. He then cut several spots around the tree up to the branches. The tree had to stand all over the summer and autumn, so in the deep and cold winter, by the last days of waning moon, when the its disc is empty he took down the pines. Then they became almost as hard as stone and no insects or rot was attacking the wood."
BOHUSLÄN Västerlanda, Sweden 1875.
After 1-2 years this pine will extract all the sugars and nutrients trough the ring and injured spots. It will seal all the injuries with pine resin and will be starting to die and dry - having less water once felled.
As time goes on the wood will become harder and harder and will not be attacked by mold, blue stain, fungus or insects.
Very important is to fell the trees during winter when the roots are frozen (December - February) by the waning moon - when the moon's disc is almost empty.
Pine prepared this way can last for more than 800-1000 years as seen in Stave churches in Norway.