DEAL, a thin kind of fir-planks, of great use in carpentry: they are formed by sawing the trunk of a tree into a great many longitudinal divisions, of more or less thickness, according to the purposes they are intended to serve.
Deals are rendered much harder, by throwing them into salt water as soon as they are sawed, keeping them there three or four days, and afterwards drying them in the air or sun; but neither this nor any other method yet known, will preserve them from shrinking.
Deals called Burgendorp deals, the hundred containing six score, pay on importation 3 l. 8 s. 8 d. and draw back 3 l. 3 s. the rate 12 l. Meabro deals, six score, pay 1 l. 2 s. 10 d. and draw back 1 l. 1 s. the rate 4 l. Norway deals, six score, pay 1 l. 8 s. 7 d. and draw back 1 l. 6 s. 3 d. the rate 5 l. Spruce deals, six score, pay 4 l. 5 s. 10 d. and draw back 3 l. 18 s. 9 d. the rate 15 l. Deals from Russia, and all other countries not particularly rated, exceeding twenty foot in length, pay 4 l. 5 s. 10 d. and draw back 3 l. 18 s. 9 d. the rate 15 l. Deals from Sweden, or any other country, of twenty feet in length or under, not otherwise rated, the 120, pay 1 l. 8 s. 7 d. and draw back 1 l. 6 s. 3 d. the rate 5 l.