TIMBER STORAGE IN THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN STATES. 



9 



and sweep over the lumber, wetting it and depositing silt over great 

 quantities of the stock (fig. 2). The writer has seen instances along 

 the Atlantic seaboard where lumber stacks at least 12 feet high were 

 thus silted completely to the top. A somewhat similar condition 

 exists along certain rivers during times of flood (fig. 3)^ 



Where it is necessary to store lumber upon low swampy ground 

 (figs. 4: and 5), the weed problem also becomes a serious factor. In 

 the first place the growth of vegetation is so luxuriant as to require 

 constant attention, and in the second place the ground is not even or 

 firm enough to allow convenient mowing. The result is that some- 

 times the weeds are allowed to develop above the height of the foun- 

 dations, thus cutting 

 off air circulation be- 

 neath the piles and 

 hence increasing the 

 danger from fungi 

 many fold. 



QUALITY OF STOCK 

 WITH REFERENCE 

 TO DECAY. 



The fact that 

 American mills are 

 utilizing their timber 

 to a smaller size than 

 formerly throws a 

 greater quantity of 

 the inferior grades 

 upon the storage 

 yards. Rapid deteri- 

 oration in this low- 

 grade stock may re- 

 sult unless it be care- 

 fully handled. In the 



case of many yellow-pine structural timbers it is a matter of common 

 observation that the quality is growing decidedly poor, this being in 

 large part due to the fact that small second-growth trees are being 

 logged and cut into dimension sizes. In the shortleaf-pine business, 

 in particular, a single mill rarely attempts to cut both board and 

 dimension stock. As a rule, it is said to be more profitable to cut the 

 better grade larger shortleaf and loblolly trees into 1 and 2 inch 

 stock. Hence, for structural sizes the trade largely depends on cer- 

 tain timber mills, as well as a multitude of small portable mills 

 operating in young second-growth timber. The storage of these less 

 71022°— Bull. 510—17 2 



Fig. 4. — Lumber piled on low swampy land at a Texas 

 sawmill. The serious decay in this yard is due to the 

 excess of soil moisture and poor circulation heneath 

 the stacks. 



