72 ELEMENTARY FORESTRY. 



protected by kiln-drying, it lasts as long as that cut at any 

 other season. 



Early winter is probably the best time to cut timber as 

 regards durability, since it then seasons slowly at a time 

 when the rot-producing fungi are not active, so that it can 

 cure over on the outside before summer. Many kinds of fungi 

 and beetles find a very favorable place just under the bark of 

 logs. These can be avoided, the curing of the timber hastened 

 and its durability greatly increased by removing the bark 

 soon after felling. When trees are cut in full leaf it is advan- 

 tageous to let them lie at full length until the leaves are 

 thoroughly wilted ( 2 or 3 weeks) before cutting to size. With 

 conifers this is a good practice at any season, and while not 

 practical, yet theoretically all winter-cut trees should be left 

 to leaf out in the spring before being worked. In this way 

 most of the sap is evaporated, but in the care of timber that 

 is to go at once into the water these precautions are not so 

 important. 



Heat, (60 Deg. to 100 Deg. F. ) Moisture and Air in moderate 

 quantities produce conditions under which wood quickly 

 decays. It is on this account that fence posts rot oft' near the 

 surface of the ground, where about such conditions of heat 

 and moisture are usually found during several months of the 

 year. For the same reason what is known as dry rot destroys 

 green floor joists or other timbers where they are tightly 

 enclosed, as under a house without ventilation, since moisture 

 is always present in such places and the timber cannot dry 

 out. Perfectly dry wood or that submerged in water will last 

 indefinitely, and there seems to be no difference in different 

 kinds of wood under these conditions. Pieces of pine wood in 

 good condition have been found in Illinois buried toadepth of 

 sixty feet that must have been there for many centuries. Nearly 

 sound pine logs are occasionally found in the woods of this 

 state. w r here they have a thick moss covering that has kept 

 them moist and prevented their decay for hundreds of years. 

 The remains of timbers in the piles of the lake dwellers, which 

 must have stood in place two thousand years, are still intact. 

 In these instances the wood was kept moist and never came in 

 contact with the air. It is very evident, too, that wood which 

 is kept in a dry place does not decay, since it may be found 



