TIMBER STORAGE IN THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN STATES. 



27 



the stack at the rear. Roofing the piles should never be omitted, as 

 the protection afforded against rain is of undoubted value and the 

 operation itself adds very little to the cost of piling. 



HANDLING TIMBER AT RETAIL YARDS. 



The storage problems involved at retail yards are somewhat dif- 

 ferent from those at mills, although they may be discussed under 

 exactly similar heads. 



LOCATION OF YARDS WITH REFERENCE TO DECAY. 



As a first observation, we may say in general that retail or whole- 

 sale yards, as opposed to yards in connection with a sawmill, have the 

 advantage of a higher and drier 

 location, which, in turn, should 

 make sanitation measures easier 

 to practice. The necessity of lo- 

 cating on streams or bodies of 

 water is not ordinarily a prime 

 consideration, but rather the lo- 

 cation on or near a railway line 

 and as convenient as possible to 

 the actual consumer. Naturally, 

 in the seaport towns, where much 

 of the lumber comes in by boat, 

 the most favorable location from 

 the standpoint of transportation 

 is along the water front, but in 

 inland towns, where the shipment 

 of lumber is by rail, the other 

 factors of accessibility to the 

 local market and the price of 

 land play the important part. 



This general advantage of lo- 

 cation, however, is often consid- 

 erably offset by the necessity for 

 close piling, without adequate 

 ventilation either between the 



piles or through them, due to the higher cost of land. When this is 

 coupled with the fact that much of the product has been in storage 

 elsewhere for varying periods, sometimes a year or more, it can 

 readily be seen why decay is rather frequentlj^ encounterecl in the 

 retail yard. 



The salvation of the retail dealers usually lies in disposing of their 

 stock rapidly. Most of them aim to turn it at least three or four 

 times a year, for they recog-nize that long storage will prove disas- 

 trous. Timber showing deterioration through decay is not difficult 

 to find in most retail yards. However, this is very often only in the 



P9IF 



Fig. 28. — Two-inch stock piled without 

 sticks, a method rarely used in the yards 

 visited. Not used, as far as observed, 

 with stock less than 6 inches wide. 



