ON PREVENTING THE DRY-ROT IN WOOIJ. '7^ 



wliich, though they begin merely because the decayed wood 

 is their proper soil, yet afterward tend probably to the more 

 speedy decomposition of the wood itself- They cannot, 

 however, with more propriety be said to be the cause of th^ 

 dry-rot, than the white clover, which appears on certain 

 lands after a top-diessint^ of coul-ashes, can be said to have 

 produced the soil on which it flourished. 



I have remarked above, that sometimes only a particular Someliave as^ 

 sort or sample of timber has in certain situations rotted, ^^| ^^ xhenl- 

 while another piece has continued for a great length of time tare of the 

 perfectly sound. Hence persons have been deceived, and ^^°^ ' 

 been disposed to attribute the dry-rot solely and universally 

 to some original peculiarity in the wood itself. Dr. Darwin Wood felled in 

 explains this fact by telling us, that the wood so decaying ^^^ spring iur- 

 has probably been cut in the spring, when the sap in the 

 alburnum was nqt only abundant, but of a saccharine 

 quality; which, in combination with the vegeto-auimal sub- 

 stance or gluten, disposes it to run with unusual readiness 

 into destructive fermentation. In some trees, as by more 

 particular custom the oak, t'he bark is a very valuable arti- 

 cle of commerce, and ia found not only to quit the trep 

 more readily, but to contain a larger proportion of tan in 

 the spring, when the sap is rising, than at other seasons. 

 Hence an old Act of JParUameut, now in force, ordains that 

 all oak, except for the purpose of building, shall be felled 

 in the spring. Whether daors, posts and rails, paling, bar- 

 rel staves, &c., come under th& denomination of building, 

 it may be difficult to say ; but it seems at first view highly 

 to be lamented, that any law shauld impose an obligation to 

 destroy a valuable species of property. It would indeed 

 be matter of peculiar regret, if an impolitic and avaricious 

 spirit should induce the owners of oak forests to extend 

 the same principle to the timber employed in the cour 

 Struction of great machines, and more especially the British 

 navy. 



Various means have been employed in order to remove Means em- 

 the tendency to the dry-rot in trees so felled. Thus they P'f'yed to re- 



/ , , • ■, '"edy tins. 



nave been long exposed to tne ram, or steeped, or even 



sojnetimes boiled in water, and then dried by artificial heat. 

 *I'hese means do net howeyer appear to have been successful 



in 



