vil.] THE "DRY-ROT" OF TIMBER. 185 



damp close situation may be readily killed in a day or 

 two by letting in thoroughly dry air : of course, the 

 mycelium deeper down in the wood is not so easily 

 and quickly destroyed, since not only is it more 

 protected, but the mycelial strands are able to trans- 

 port moisture from a distance. Much misunderstand- 

 ing prevails as to the meaning of " dry air" and 

 " dry wood " : as a matter of fact the air usually 

 contains much moisture, especially in cellars and quiet 

 corners devoid of draughts, such as Merulius delights 

 in, and we have already seen how dry timber rapidly 

 absorbs moisture from such air. Moreover, the 

 strands of mycelium may extend into damp soil, 

 foundations, brick-work, &c. ; in such cases they 

 convey moisture to parts growing in apparently dry 

 situations. 



A large series of comparative experiments, made 

 especially by Hartig, have fully established the 

 correctness of the conclusion that damp foundations, 

 walls, &c., encourage the spread of dry-rot, quite 

 independently of the quality of the timber. This is 

 important, because it has long been supposed that 

 timber felled in summer was more prone to dry-rot 

 than timber felled in winter: such, however, is not 

 shown to be the case, for under the same conditions 

 both summer- and winter-wood suffer alike, and 



