TIMBER STOEAGE IN THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN STATES. 



35 



The fact that we are dealing here with two fungi which are known 

 to be widely distributed in lumberyards in the United States, not only 

 in the region covered by this study, but also along the Pacific coast, 

 coupled with our knowledge of the rather common occurrence and 

 seriousness of the same organisms in buildings throughout the same 

 range, is a cause for grave concern on the part of both lumbermen 

 and builders. 



Both fungi can readily be introduced into buildings by means of 

 diseased lumber, and it is very probable that at least some of the 

 outbreaks in compara- 

 tively new buildings 

 which have come to 

 the attention of the 

 writer can be attrib- 

 uted to this source. 



Besides Merulius 

 lachryTTians and Co- 

 niophora cerehella the 

 writer has twice en- 

 countered another or- 

 ganism of much the 

 same habit of growth 

 and destructiveness. 

 This organism, the 

 identity of which has 

 not yet been deter- 

 mined, was first found 

 in a retail lumberyard 

 in Alabama and later 

 in a cotton warehouse 

 in Mississippi. The 

 owner of the lumber- 

 yard had appealed to 

 the writer for assist- 

 ance in eradicating a very serious infection, so a careful inspection 

 was made at the first opportunity and the organism was found in 

 g'reat abundance in all three of the open storage sheds, where it had 

 destroyed many of the foundation timbers and also passed upward 

 into the stored lumber (PL X, figs. 1-4). The first serious infection 

 noted in this yard occurred six years ago, when two carloads of 6 by 6 

 pine timbers piled in the open yard were so badly decayed to a height 

 of 6 to 8 feet in the piles as to be rendered useless for building pur- 

 poses. This material was at once disposed of for firewood. Three 

 years later a further outbreak occurred in two of the open storage 

 sheds and in an addition attached to the small office building. Dur- 

 ing 1913 a serious infectioli was also found in a third open shed 



Fig. 36. — The solid type of built-up plank foundation. 

 This permits air circulation beneath the piles in only 

 one direction. The ends of the stock have been 

 painted to prevent checking. 



