36 
BULLETIN 510, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 
According to the owners, the immediate loss of this yard in stock 
and repairs up to October, 1914, was estimated to be between $1,000 
and $2,000. This represents, however, only the actual loss to the com- 
pany in lumber, figured at wholesale prices, and labor necessary in 
making repairs. The potential danger to the consumer using such 
stock, even though but very slightly infected, would amount to very 
much more than this sum, for a single stick introduced into each of 
a number of new buildings would occasion an incalculable amount of 
damage if such timbers happened to be placed in a moist situation 
favorable for the further development and spread of the fungus. 
As soon as the infec- 
tions were noted as seri- 
ous, the company at- 
tempted eradication and 
control measures. In the 
office building the spread 
of the fungus has been 
checked by proper ven- 
tilation, and in the sheds 
the same methods are be- 
ing applied by removing 
the cinder fills beneath 
them and raising the 
foundations to a height 
of 18 to 24 inches, plac- 
ing the sills on brick 
piers. In future repairs 
the writer has suggested 
the application of either 
mercuric chlorid or some 
creosote compound to the 
new timbers. 
One member of the 
company so firmly be- 
lieved that the cinders used for filling about the yard had been 
highly favorable to the development and spread of the infection 
that orders were given to remove all of them from beneath the 
sheds. While it is possible that the infection may have been in- 
troduced by means of the cinders, the rapid growth of the fungus 
was mainly due to poor ventilation. Cinders have been used by a 
considerable number of other yards with complete satisfaction. 
Ashes, however, are not to be recommended. There are records in 
German literature where* ashes used for filling between floors to 
deaden them have been the source of fungous outbreaks. The case 
of a cotton warehouse investigated by the writer, where pine flooring 
PI 00F 
Fig. 37. — The latticed type of built-up plank founda 
tions. This is an improvement over the solid type 
as it allows better ventilation beneath the piles. 
