190 TIMBER AND SOME OF ITS DISEASES. [CHAP. 



unseasoned timber. It is obvious that the diseased 

 timber should be removed as quickly as possible, and 

 burnt at once : if used as firewood in the ordinary 

 way, it is at the risk of those concerned. Of course 

 the great danger consists in the presence of many 

 ripe spores, and their being scattered on timber which 

 is under proper conditions for their germination and 

 the spread of the mycelium. 



It is clearly an act worthy only of a madman to 

 use fresh " green " timber for building purposes ; but 

 it seems certain that much improperly dried and by 

 no means " seasoned " timber is employed in some 

 modern houses. Such wood is peculiarly exposed to 

 the attacks of any spores or mycelium that may be 

 near. 



But even when the beams, door-posts, window- 

 sashes, &c., in a house are made of properly dried 

 and seasoned deal, the danger is not averted if they 

 are supported on damp walls or floors. For the sake 

 of illustration I will take an extreme case, though I 

 have no doubt it has been realized at various times. 

 Beams of thoroughly seasoned deal are cut with a 

 saw which has previously been used for cutting up 

 diseased timber, and a few spores of Merulius are 

 rubbed off from the saw, and left sticking to one end 

 of the cut beam : this end is then laid on or in a 



