TIMBERS. 333 
so far as to partially season by storage in sawdust from the pit, 
while others sometimes adopt the water process. 
The remarks of Mr. Shields (7%/ra) areas true to-day as when 
spoken twenty-five years ago. It is, however, not likely that 
any immediate improvement will take place in the matter of 
seasoning, for the reason that Australian hardwood (which forms 
the great bulk of the timber) is cheap on account of its abundance, 
while the cost of labour is very great. Moreover, the difficulty of 
manipulating it, on account of its great weight, stands in the way 
of seasoning it on an extensive scale. It has not yet been brought 
home to our country sawyers that seasoning of timber will pay. And 
more attention should be paid than at present to cutting the timber 
at the proper season, 2.e., when the sap is least active, a time which 
(within certain limits) can only be determined locally in each case. 
Mr. Shields stated, from his experience in the use of Australian 
woods, that it was the custom in that country to cut down the 
timber as it grew, to convert it into the required shape, and to use 
it without any kind of seasoning or preparation. It was not to be 
supposed that timber, under such conditions, would, when exposed 
_ tothe burning sun of India, endure for any long period. He 
believed that when properly seasoned, as all timber required to be, 
by the use of some simple means of preparation, such as immersion 
in water, or exposure, under cover from the sun, to a current of air, 
Australian timber would be found as durable as that of any other 
country, and he knew of none in any part of the world which was 
equal to it in strength or tenacity. It approached inferior wrought 
iron in textile strength, and possessed excellent properties if it was 
subjected to fair treatment. He thought more might be done with 
Australian timber than had been the case hitherto, and he con- 
sidered the use of it should not be abandoned without further 
trial. (Proc. Inst. C.E., xxii. 258.) 
The author has compiled the few notes on seasoning which 
follow, chiefly from Motes on Building Construction, Part iii. 
(Rivingtons), Zhe Materials of Engineering (Thurston), Sawmills, 
their Arrangement and Management (M. Powis Bale). 
Natural or air seasoning gives the best results. The timber 
should in all cases be squared as soon as cut, and all large logs 
