WOODS AND THEIR DESTRUCTIVE FUNGI. 611 



spheres in the resin-ducts and wood-cells I found in some white-pine 

 lumber from Michigan, used for sheathing freight-cars. The wood was 

 discolored and the medullary rays were mostly destroyed, especially 

 those containing resin-ducts, which were penetrated from the exterior, 

 the hypha spreading to the longitudinal resin-ducts and wood-cells ; 

 upon drying, the decay was checked, but will commence again on 

 moisture gaining access to the wood, which is likely to be the case in 

 the cars. Such discolored wood should be rejected for all situations 

 where moisture will again be possible, as it will quickly decay and 

 communicate it to other woods. I recently saw a number of window- 

 frames made up with lumber having on a portion of sap-wood which 

 was discolored ; the dampness from the stone window-sill, after a short 

 time, will revive the former growth in the base of the frames, and, the 

 exterior paint retaining the moisture, the growth will be facilitated, 

 and cause decay of the wood. 



Many of the ferments I have cultivated from some of the species 

 of wood decayed by different fungi are dissimilar in form and manner 

 of growth ; some are confined entirely to a surface-growth of the 

 gelatine, and others germinate in small spheres along the line of inocu- 



Fig. 20, i; c 



Fig. 21. Ctrr.TUKE Tubes Wood Ferments, a 

 sliows nearly how those shown in Fig. 18 

 grew; ft, those from decayed white pine; c, 

 those from decayed hemlock. 



lation, those nearest the surface only developing to any size, while 

 those below the air-supply do not increase after a few days. The 

 ferments obtained from decaying hemlock grew and liquefied the gela- 

 tine very rapidly from the surface downward ; no budding ferments 

 were found but those which grew by fission (bacteria) belonging to 

 the Schizomycetes. An interesting and practical point was, that they 

 grew rapidly in alkaline gelatine, while in that of acid they developed 

 slowly ; some cultures in the latter have not grown so much from the 

 1st of April to July 15th as the same kind of ferments did in alkaline 

 gelatine in ten days after inoculation. 



Note. Figs. 21 and 22 are from " The Methods of Bacteriological Investigation," by 

 Dr. F. Hueppc. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1886. 



