28 
BULLETIN 510, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
incipient stage and is not readily noticed by the casual observer. 
Yards which dress the lumber just before filling orders can in this 
way supply to the trade clean-looking lumber, but this does not 
always imply freedom from fungous infection. The opinion seems 
to be prevalent among many lumber dealers that the mere brightening 
of the lumber by running through the planer serves to remove all 
objection to infected stock. This is far from the fact, however. It 
merely gives it a better sale appearance, and the danger to the ulti- 
mate user still remains. The adage that " beauty is only skin deep " 
applies to such infected stock with particular force. 
TVTiile perhaps the majority of lumber dealers have merely over- 
looked the full significance to the building trades of the dangers 
which lurk in diseased stock and are trying in every way to satisfy 
their trade and meet competition, there still remain a considerable 
number who do not look into the future but are content to get the 
stock off their own hands without any care as to the service which it 
will give the consumer. This is a thoroughly mistaken policy, for 
the lumber m a n 
should in every way 
strive to increase the 
value of his product. 
In the first place, it 
is good business pol- 
icy, and, second, 
there remains the 
question of m oral 
and legal responsi- 
bility. " 
P92F 
Fig. 29. — A stack of pine lunibei of uneven lengths. Note 
the irregular distribution of the piling sticks and the 
consequent warping and twisting of the boards. 
STORAGE SHEDS. 
In many retail 
yards shed condi- 
tions are very poor. The closed type of shed is in the minority. 
Since lumber under cover is as a rule piled closely in bins, the need 
for ample ventilation beneath and a tight roof above is imperative. 
All the decay observed in lumber sheds is directly traceable to one or 
the other of these factors; mainly, however, that of improper ventila- 
tion. It has frequently been the custom merely to lay a narrow timber 
sill directly on the ground, or at best within a very few inches of it, 
to serve for the foundation (fig. 30). The best practice, however, has 
been to place the sills on brick or concrete piers not less than 18 to 24 
inches high, running the siding of the shed only to the bottom of the 
sills, so as to allow a free circulation of air regardless of the direction 
of the wind. Such a construction is represented in figure 31. 
Another defect of the open shed which has been frequently noted 
is the sin ng tendency to allow the ends of the longer stock to project 
