248 On Dry-Rot. [Sess. 



expense. Many of the banks and large workshops in town 

 have suffered from its ravages, and even the sacred precincts 

 of the church are not exempt from its attacks. Before it was 

 expelled from the Board schools, it had made more " progress " 

 under the masters than the pupils had done. Many owners 

 of handsome villas know to their cost the destructive properties 

 of this fungus. When the outgrowth makes its appearance, it 

 is a sure sign that there is havoc going on within. The wood 

 becomes discoloured and cracks, and has all the appearance of 

 being burnt. It gives a dead sound when tapped, and becomes 

 so soft and light that it can be crumbled to tinder between 

 the fingers. Having lost all its strength, it may give rise at 

 any moment to serious accidents. It is said that families 

 have been suddenly alarmed by feeling the floor giving way 

 beneath them. In dry air the fungus soon withers and dies, 

 for the failure of moisture is more injurious to it than the 

 want of nourishment. The plant requires an enormous 

 quantity of water, which bulks fully one-half in the weight of 

 the fungus. 



It is stated on the authority of a German builder that the 

 germs of dry-rot may exist in the living tree, and instances 

 are given by him where dry and sound wood has been 

 attacked. It is also said that there are whole forests of pine 

 in Eussia from which no building wood is now taken, as it 

 has always been attacked by dry-rot. But little faith can be 

 put in these statements, for the germs are so insidious that 

 they baffle every precaution taken to keep the wood from 

 being infected. Sound timber cut by a saw which had been 

 used upon infected wood has been attacked, and beams have 

 been injured by being placed near infected wood. As a rule, 

 however, thoroughly seasoned wood is not liable to the attacks 

 of the germ. 



It has long been known that there is a proper time and 

 manner of felling trees. Vitruvius, a Eoman architect, who 

 lived about 70 B.C., knew that good sound timber could 

 only be had by cutting the tree to the pith, so as to allow 

 the sap to escape, which, by drying in the wood, would injure 

 its quality. He directed that felling should take place from 

 early autumn till the end of winter. In Scotland, during the 

 reign of James I., there was a close time for felling trees — 



