CRAIB—REGIONAL SPREAD OF MOISTURE IN WooD OF TREES. 7 
negligible, but that for present purposes it is probably a negli- 
gible quantity. The roots being still active and transpiration 
being negligible, how is the additional water disposed of ? A 
glance at the graphs will, I think, readily answer this. It will 
be noticed that the graph of the fourth cut of the December tree 
is very similar to that of the lowest cut of the October tree, 
except that the percentages in the intermediate region are 
slightly higher. From this similarity, and from the gradations 
of moisture spread traceable between the first and fourth cut of 
the December tree, it is not unreasonable to presume that in 
the interval between October and December the graph of every 
part of the trunk up to and including the lower part of the crown 
would be at one time or another, though not simultaneously 
throughout the whole area, similar to that of the lowest cut of 
October or the fourth cut of December. In other words, water 
resulting from continued root activity is no longer required, 
to any great extent at least, in the crown, and is stored up in 
the centre of the tree until a condition represented by the lowest 
eraph of the October tree, but with slightly higher percentages 
in the intermediate region, is attained. The reason for predicat- 
- ing this slightly higher percentage is that from comparison with 
other results I believe that the October tree was felled just 
before storage was completed in the lower part of the bole. 
Before leaving the December tree we must note that both the 
storage of moisture in the centre of the trunk and the movement 
of the maximum moisture region away from the centre commence 
at the bottom of the trunk. 
Just as was the storage of moisture in the centre of the trunk 
in October,so was this radial movement of the maximum moisture 
region of which we have just seen the commencement an un- 
expected happening. Was there any justification for comparing 
the two sets of graphs and drawing conclusions from them, or 
did the two sets of graphs differ no more than what might be 
expected from any two trees taken at random ? 
To test the validity of the conclusions drawn from a com- . 
parison of results obtained from the October and December 
trees, the third tree was felled in the middle of January. This 
tree gave the following results :— : 
1. That the central region is still the richest 1m moisture. 
2. That, with the exception of the bottom cut, the moisture 
percentage of the centre increases upwards, and that this increase 
continues up to the top cut selected. 
3. That the moisture content of the outer few years’ wood 
resembles that of December. 
4. That, although the percentage of the extreme outsides 
is rather erratic, there would appear to be some relationship 
