30 
BULLETIX 510, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Somewhat higher foundations than these are to be preferred in 
many situations, but in this yard, where every precaution was taken 
to keep the ground # free from all infected debris, and where the 
drainage was excellent, this height has proved satisfactory. 
Piers have the advantage over a solid wall in permitting better 
ventilation, but piers also involve the use of wooden skids, which if 
not treated with a good preservative may more than offset the ad- 
vantage gained in better ventilation. 
The careless handling of crossing sticks and lumber in retail yards 
is just as evident as in 
mill yards. The gen- 
eral practice in many 
of the yards visited is 
to throw sticks about 
on the ground when 
the stacks are torn 
down, and there they 
often r e m a i n until 
they are needed again. 
This insanitary prac- 
tice needs no further 
comment. A compari- 
son of the yard shown 
in figure 40, where the 
lumber is scattered 
a bout promiscuously 
on the ground, with 
the yard shown in fig- 
ure 15, where concrete 
foundations and treat- 
ed ties are in use and 
all debris is carefully 
collected into a wagon (fig. 41) and hauled away, may be of interest 
in this connection. 
FUNGI WHICH ROT STORED LUMBER. 
Fig. 31. — A retail shed in Tennessee, well roofed, pro- 
vided with gutters, and set on brick piers with ample 
ventilation beneath from all sides. 
A considerable number of different species of wood-destroying 
fungi have been encountered in lumberyards. These, of course, are 
more frequently found fruiting on the foundations, tramway timbers, 
and ties than on the stored lumber, but this is only a question of the 
time which the timbers have been in the yard. The fact that elevated 
tramway posts and girders will rot in the South in a few years is 
proof conclusive that lumber stored in the open will also rot if it 
becomes necessary to hold it in storage too long. In the Gulf States 
low-grade lumber stored in the ordinary manner will show consider- 
