260 TIMBEE 



already there by providing them with a warm and moist 

 chamber, and the interior of the wood will almost certainly 

 be destroyed. 



The human being who has contracted an infectious 

 disease is kept apart from his fellows so as to prevent the 

 spread of the disorder, yet decaying timber is too often 

 left lying in the neighbourhood of sound timber, the 

 danger of infection not being realized ; the two cases are 

 analogous, and decayed timber, being a very fruitful source 

 of infection owing to the risk of the distribution of the 

 fungus spores it contains, should be removed from the 

 neighbourhood of sound timber or should be destroyed. 



As a rule the harder or denser woods are less liable to 

 decay than those of a softer nature, but such is not always 

 the case, as karri timber, which is, if anything, harder and 

 denser than jarrah, is the more liable of the two to decay 

 in damp situations, but both these are less liable than most 

 of the fir and pine timbers. Sapwood is more liable to 

 decay than heartwood, and in structural timbers is the 

 lirst to decay. 



It has been pointed out that timber buried in the ground 

 has generally a very long life, but there are exceptions to 

 all rules, and a curious instance showing the difficulties 

 incurred with timber in the ground has recently come 

 before the author. The instance consisted of pitch pine 

 piles with capping pieces of the same as a foundation to 

 carry cranes and columns for a large foundry in alluvial 

 deposit of considerable depth. The timber would have 

 been creosoted were it not that there was risk of fire. As 

 the ground was too low for shop floor level, the pile heads 

 and caps stood up in some cases for 3 or 4 ft. above the 

 original surface, and the ground was filled up with mixed 

 material, chiefly clay and sand, but there were no ashes. 

 Although the work has only been down about seven years, 



