eh we N er ae % ba ‘- : bye ar oe / ‘ j 
STATE Mvusrum or NATURAL HISTORY. 93 
to ten inches thick, should first be laid down, and the lumber piled on 
them in tiers, with narrow sticks between each board at the ends and 
centers. Grass and weeds should not be allowed to grow near the 
piles of lumber, impeding the circulation of air under them. 
| Large timber should be seasoned under sheds and not exposed to 
the rays of the sun, as the latter dries an exterior portion so rapidly 
that it prevents the proper escape of moisture from the outside, and 
internal decay is liable to occur. 
If timber, ties or boards’are piled in close contact, and remain so 
for any length of time, dampness will revive and start the growth of 
mycelium. It is not uncommon to see large sticks of timber, 
especially for freight cars, taken into the shops partially covered by 
mycelium, dressed, framed, put into cars and then painted, thus com- 
pleting the essential condition for slow but certain decay. Such wood 
has only one-fourth to one-third the life of seasoned wood. 
Boards, especially those used for sheathing freight cars, when piled 
in close contact, in 
Se, summer, are attacked 
BO tines “eth dol 
——\— it 1 cova) ‘ 
ier the wood by filling the 
es 2 sarin, cells with growths, 
RPI SID 
often similar to those 
shown in Fig. IV. 
The species of fungi 
which discolor the sap- 
wood and then set up 
fermentations are ex- 
2 
Ur 
ceedingly numerous 
and grow with great 
rapidity. Some of the 
forms found in white 
pine are spheres re- 
sembling those shown 
in Fig. IV. 
This wood, on being 
dried, will remain dis- 
y ‘ , colored, but the sea- 
Fig. IV. Magnified 150 diameters, showing fungus i qos 
growths discoloring the sap-wood of white pine. soning will check the 
decay. Such boards, when put into cars and painted, quickly decay 
when moisture reaches the unpainted surface. This class of decay is 
by 
