HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



said the observer, "are doing more real, sure-enougli practical 

 work along the lines of cost accounting than any other set of 

 Diuiiufiu-turcrs in the country." 



"True enough,'' replied the veueer man; "and yet, strange to 



relate, xve still find people selling their stock for less than it 

 costs to produce it, and others refusing to find out what the cost 

 of production is. it's a Ion;; way to the millennium, after all." 



G. D. C, .Ir. 



^^ 



Ko:^t^s»Jg;i^Jlk:>^li;K>^t^i^>M;ui;tm^:io/^^^ 



l>ecay of wood is caused by fuiigub, and without fuujjus there 



.11 be little decay. Scores and probably hundreds of kinds of fungus 

 are concerned in the rotting of various woods and under different 

 circumstances; but the present article will consider less than half 

 a dozen kinds, and only those which are well known to most people 

 who cut oak trees and manufacture the wood into products. In order 

 to still further restrict tlie inquiry, only those kinds of fungus will 

 be considered which affect the heartwood of oak trees whUe they 

 are still living, and which produce results that are easily seen and 

 which greatly lessen the value of the wood. 



When a woodsman cuts an oak tree and finds the heartwood in a 

 state of decay, he cannot possibly make a mistake if he lays his loss 

 to the work of some species of fungus that in some manner has 

 found its way to the interior of the trunk. It may not make much 

 difference whether the particular name of the destroying organism 

 is known or not, its effect is the most important matter, when meas- 

 ured by dollars and cents. It may, however, be of some assistance 

 to be able to detect the signs of such decay before the trees are cut; 

 and in a good many instances this can be done very accurately, 

 though in other cases it is much more difficult. 



It is quite generally known that fungus of every species and kind 

 is a plant of a low order. There are thousands of kinds. In fact, 

 there are so many kinds that no botanist in the world pretends to 

 know them all. Specialists in that branch of botany spend years 

 in fields and woods, and are constantly finding kinds unknown before. 

 It is impossible, and fortunately unnecessary, for the business man 

 to do more in this field than to get acquainted with the few kinds 

 of fungus which directly concern his particular branch of business. 

 The lumberman who works in the woods can easily do this, and he 

 may turn his knowledge to account in a number of ways. So various 

 are the forms that almost every person knows a few. Mushrooms 

 and toadstools are best known, because they are large, plentiful, and 

 easily recognized. A common sight in the woods is a shelf-like growth 

 on old stumps, logs and living trees. This is the fruiting body of 

 fungus, the outward, visible portion, while the roots are hidden 

 within the wood. The terms "fruit" and "roots" express the 

 facts in a general way; but to be scientifically precise, other terms 

 would have to be used. Under present circumstances, however, this 

 is unnecessary. 



A prevalent defect in oak trees is commonly called white heart-rot. 

 It is caused by a fungus known as "false-tinder," but among bot- 

 anists it is called Fames igniarkts. It is designated tinder because 

 when flint and steel were the usual methods of striking fire, before 

 the invention of matches, the tinder or punk was. often made 

 of this fungus. The outer rind was pared off, and the remainder was 

 boiled in lye, dried, and pounded to soften it. Sometimes it was 

 boiled with saltpeter. 



False-tinder is a shelf-like growth on the trunk of the tree, re- 

 sembling a horse's hoof. There are other kinds of fungus which 

 produce shelf-like growths, and some of them might be mistaken 

 for this one; but after a person has made a few examinations there 

 will be little iikelihood that mistakes will be made. The tinder 

 fungus grows on living trees principally, while most of the others are 

 found on dead trees or on logs and stumps. 



This fungus is probably the most widely-distributed plant of the 

 whole vegetable kingdom. It grows all over the world, wherever 

 there are trees in considerable variety. There may be localities 

 where it is not found, but its range is known to be world-wide, and 

 that can be said of few other plants. Climate has little to do with 

 its spread. 



Almost every hinilicrTiian or dealer in fore.st products is acquainted 



w itli the effect of tinder fungus. It produces the white heart-rot 

 so common in timber. The shelf which grows on the outside of the 

 tree is a result, not the cause of the heart-rot. Decay is usually 

 pretty well advanced before the hoof-like shelf appears. This out- 

 side growth is the fruiting body of the fungus that is rotting the 

 tree's interior. The fruiting body must develop on the outside of 

 the trunk, but the real damage is done inside where decay spreads up 

 and down the trunk. 



The seeds of fungus are called spores. The shelf on the trunk 

 produces them by thousands from its underside. They are too small 

 to be seen except as a cloud of dust. The individual spores are in- 

 visible under ordinary circumstances. They are carried long dis- 

 tances by the wind, and unless they come in contact with a wound 

 or injury in the trunk of a tree they cannot grow. They may lodge 

 on a tree's bark, but it is believed that they never grow in the bark; 

 when the spores happen to enter a wound made by the break- 

 ing of a dead limb, they find a growing place. Hair-like roots, 

 called hyphs, are quickly developed, and they penetrate the wood, 

 growing inward untU they reach the tree's heart, and there they 

 begin to spread up the trunk and down. 



That is the origin of the white rot which the timber cutter so 

 often finds. He may see no sign of it on the outside of the trunk, 

 but encounters decay in the heartwood. Sometimes one shelf occurs, 

 sometimes there are several. The first one usually shows itself at the 

 opening of the wound where the fungus found entrance to the tree 's 

 interior. This is generally the stub of a broken limb, as already 

 stated. 



Tinder fungus attacks heartwood only at first, but in advance 

 stages of decay the sapwood may become affected also, and the rot 

 may finally reach the bark, and the death of the tree speedily fol- 

 lows. Death always follows an attack by this enemy. White heart- 

 rot is an incurable disease. As far as known there is absolutely no 

 hope for a tree when the thread-like roots of tinder fungus once in- 

 sinuate themselves among the fibers of its heartwood. It is like 

 leprosy in its slow, sure work. Death may be a long time in coming, 

 but it is certain. The tree decays more and more each year. In 

 the early stages most of the trunk is suitable for use; but in course 

 of time the disease spreads from branches to roots, and the un- 

 sightly growths on the trunk- tell that not only is the tree's doom 

 sealed, but the wood has become worthless. 



It is believed that tinder fungus never attacks young trees. They 

 must be old enough to have developed heartwood. Neither does it 

 fix itself on a perfectly healthy tree. It cannot do so, because it 

 must enter through a wound. Trunks without breaks in the bark 

 are safe; but let an injury show itself, and there is the point of 

 danger. Much of the beech of northern Louisiana falls a victim 

 to the tinder fungus which enters through stubs of dead and broken 

 limbs. In some localities mills make little effort to saw beech logs 

 because so few of them are worth sawing. 



This fungus determines the length of life of many trees. It is 

 the disease which ultimately kills them. The proper course is to cut 

 trees as soon as the first evidence of the disease appears. If that 

 is done, some of the wood may be saved. It is generally not prac- 

 ticable to do this under forest conditions. It would cost more to 

 go about a large tract, picking out diseased trees and cutting them, 

 than the timber thus saved is worth. The chief saving, however, 

 would consist in preventing the spread of the disease to other trees. 



White heart-rot is not the only disease that destroys the valuable 

 wood of living trees. Another is known as red heart-rot. It is 

 produced by a growth called sulphur fungus (Polyporus sulphurevs) 

 on account of its yellow color when mature. It develops on tree 



