20 



BULLETIN 510, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGKICULTUEE. 



durable hartbvoods or the cheaper grades of pine are used. Decay 

 is often serious in such foundations. There is very little chance for 

 ventilation, and this often leads to storage rots in the base of the 

 piles. 



The open type of foundation is always much the better from a 

 pathological standpoint. In certain of the Gulf cities, where munici- 

 palities in cooperation with the United States Public Health Service 

 are making strong efforts to get rid of rats to safeguard against 

 the bubonic plague, certain ordinances have been passed requiring 

 structures to be raised at least 12 inches from the ground and left 

 open beneath. This requirement will react ver}^ favorably upon 



lumber storage, for the first 

 necessity is to get the timber 

 off the ground, with ample 

 ventilation beneath. Figure 

 22 illustrates the method of 

 elevating the skids em- 

 ployed in a retail lumber- 

 yard at Mobile, Ala., which 

 has only recently occupied 

 the joremises. 



Timber foundations are 

 frequently the cause of con- 

 siderable trouble on account 

 of decay failure under heavy 

 loads, thus allowing the 

 piles to topple over or to 

 crush to the ground, where 

 they have every opportunity 

 to rot. Figure 23 shows two 

 such piles at a South Caro- 

 lina mill. Rot in founda- 

 tion timbers is extremely 

 common and, in fact, has been encountered in practically every yard 

 examined wdiere timbers are employed for this purpose. 



PILING STICKS. 



Practically all yards in which the lumber is " stuck " fail to appreci- 

 ate the necessity of keeping the sticks free from infection. The strong 

 tendency is to scatter them about on the ground wherever they hap- 

 pened to f.all when the previous piles were taken down (fig. 24). In 

 a very few yards attempts are made to improve the appearance of the 

 premises by gathering the sticks endAvise into conical piles or by 

 stacking them carefully on the ground beneath the skids (fig. 25). 



Fig. 17. — A 12 by 12 inch hard-pine timber, 

 showing a rotten hole in the face which lay in 

 contact with infected skids. 



