8 BULLETIiSr 510, U. S. DEPAETMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



LOCATION OF MILLS AND ITS RELATION TO DECAY. 



The location of sawmills is usually determined by certain economic 

 considerations which do not readily admit of change. Many of the 



P64F 



Fig. 2. — Lumber piled at the water's edge on the Atlantic coast. High waves sweep over 

 this during storms, wetting the lumber and producing rot. 



miDs are located either on streams or along the low and swampy 

 Atlantic or Gulf coasts. Very often higher dry land is not available 



for storage purposes 

 and then, particu- 

 larly in the South, 

 the conditions for 

 decay are excellent. 

 In some instances at- 

 tempts have been 

 made to fill in this 

 low land with saw- 

 dust, bark debris, 

 etc., with the result 

 that the soil is made 

 over into a most ex- 

 cellent culture me- 

 dium for the devel- 

 o p m e n t of wood- 

 destroying fungi. In 

 other cases yards, even when on comparatively high ground, are so 

 graded as to allow drainage into the yard rather than away from it. 

 In the coastal regions, where mills are at times located just above 

 the level of high tide, storm waves frequently beat in from the sea 



Vu;. 3. — Silt deposited in the base of a lumber stack during 

 a Mississippi River flood. This condition permits the 

 lumber to rot rapidly. 



