200 SOME RECENT RESEARCHES IN PLANT PHYSIOLOGY 



and the more easily hydrolyzable portion of the cellulose) 

 during the late summer and autumn. During the autumn 

 and winter carbohydrates are present in the root in greater 

 quantities than in the stem. In the summer the two are 

 more nearly equal. 



TABLE LIII. 



SEASONAL VARIATIONS IN THE SUGARS AND POLYSACCHARIDES OF THE 

 CHESTNUT TREE, STATED AS PERCENTAGES or THE DRY WEIGHT. 



It appears very probable that the process of " season- 

 ing " timber by soaking it in water, salt or fresh, may 

 owe its preservative effects to the fact that during it 

 polysaccharides are hydrolyzed, and the sugars of the 

 cells and tracheas diffuse away rapidly. Thus by the 

 elimination of these products and of the disintegrated 

 protoplasm the timber is freed from material which would 

 otherwise provide a suitable medium for the growth of 

 fungi or bacteria. 



