150 THE BOOK OF FORESTRY 
before shipment they greatly diminish the weight and 
the shipping charges. The balance of the seasoning 
takes place in the yard of the retailer. 
Most of the large lumbermen at the present time 
are drying their product artificially as much time is 
saved and thus a large stock of lumber is not kept on 
hand. Timber is seasoned artificially by placing it in 
a kiln and heating to a comparatively high temperature 
for a short time. Heat, however, must be very carefully 
applied as too rapid drying will result in warping and 
cracking. 
Certain hardwoods require skillful treatment and in 
order to get the best material such grades as maple 
flooring must be handled with especial care. 
Charring Timbers.-A crude method of preventing 
decay in small timbers, which is partially a chemical 
method and partially seasoning, is often practiced with 
round timbers in the country, especially fence posts. 
This consists in charring the timbers before they are put 
into the ground. The application of heat serves to dry 
out thoroughly the exterior portion of the post, and 
in addition, by changing the last two or three annual 
rings to charcoal, a coating of material little subject 
to decay is put around the part that is exposed to 
dampness. 
Chemical Preservation—Regarding chemical methods 
of wood preservation practiced in this country several 
kinds are used, depending upon the size of the timber 
and the equipment available. A good many chemicals 
have been used at one time or another but at present the 
list has been greatly reduced. To get perfect preserva- 
tion the substance used should be poisonous to fungi, 
easily soluble so as to penetrate deeply and should be 
quite lasting. It can be readily seen that these qualifi- 
