DRY-ROT IN TIMBER. 



525 



scheme for such a party, or a theme of which the variations are end- 

 less. Seven or eight guests can thus be brought into close contact : 

 with a larger number the party is apt to form two coteries, one on each 

 side of the host. The number is a good one also in relation to the 

 commissariat department eight persons being well supplied by an 

 entree in one dish ; while two are necessary for ten or twelve. More- 

 over, one bottle of wine divides well in eight ; if, therefore, the host 

 desire to give with the roast one glass of particularly fine ripe Corton 

 or Pomard, a single bottle is equal to the supply ; and so with any 

 other choice specimen of which a single circulation is required ; and 

 of course the rule holds equally if the circuit is to be repeated. 



And this leads us to the question and an important one it is of 

 the wine. Nineteenth Century. 







DRY-ROT IN TIMBER.* 



~^T"EARLY everybody has heard of dry-rot, and knows that it is 

 -L ^ something which causes the destruction of wood in a manner 

 different from ordinary decay. Some suppose the effect to be due to 

 peculiar insects that gnaw timber to powder, and others have no very 

 definite notions as to what produces it. Carpenters, ship-builders, 

 lumbermen, and house-owners often find, by the rapid destruction of 

 their property, that, whatever its cause, it is a very serious matter, 

 and they seek to be protected from the evil, though taking little pains 

 to inform themselves of its real nature and conditions. The subject 

 is, however, one of curious scientific interest, and has now come to 

 be pretty well understood. An excellent work upon it has recently 

 been compiled by Mr. T. A. Britton, an eminent British architect, who 

 has ransacked all sources of information ; and for the materials of 

 the statements which here follow we are indebted to this book. 



To understand the nature and effects of dry-rot we must first 

 glance briefly at the structure and properties of wood. The mass of 

 the trunks of timber-trees consists of slender, short fibers, with tapering 

 ends, which overlap each other ; but this overlapping does not prevent 

 the passage of sap through them. At first these fibers are hollow, 

 but are gradually filled by the deposition of solid matter from the sap 

 within them. The strength of wood is due to the shortness and over- 

 lapping of the fibers, and to the presence of this deposit. Woody 

 fiber pervades the tree from the tips of the roots to the extremities of 

 the branches, and is the chief organ of circulation. A current of sap 

 passes upward through it, from the roots to the leaves ; and another 



* A Treatise on Dry-Rot in Timber. By Thomas Allen Britton. London and New 

 York : E. & F. N. Spon. 



