TIMBER STORAGE IN THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN STATES. 17 
The use of untreated wood blocking, particularly on low. moist 
ground, should be discouraged, as such material invariably harbors 
fungi. 
The most desirable practice, and one which would be free from all 
objections, is the use of concrete or brick piers, preferably the former, 
and skid timbers treated with some preservative. Such skids, about 
24 inches high, treated with creosote, are now in use at the Forest 
Products Laboratory 
(fig. 18). 
Foundations with 
concrete piers and 
untreated skids are 
at present in use in a 
number of yards and 
have given entire sat- 
isfaction. At one 
Mississippi mill (figs. 
14 and 19) unfavor- 
able conditions of 
low ground have been 
mainly overcome by 
good drainage, care- 
ful attention to the 
removal of debris, 
and the use of con- 
crete foundations 
well off the ground.- 
A description of the 
foundations and their 
cost may be of in- 
terest. 
The foundations 
were placed and the 
tramways rebuilt be- 
tween 1908 and 1910, after a number of years of unsatisfactory expe- 
rience with wood, at a reported cost of about $30,000 for a mill having 
an annual cut around 60,000,000 feet of pine a year. In the two years 
preceding the placing of the concrete foundations and the rebuilding 
of the tramways, the annual charge for material and labor in the 
upkeep of the yard was $18,000 and $17,000, respectively. Follow- 
ing the equipment of the yard with concrete foundation piers and 
concrete footings for the tramway posts, this charge was materially 
reduced. The present maintenance cost as reported by the company, 
71022°— Bull. 510—17 3 
P78F 
Fig. 13. — Vines growing over lumber piles. From a patho- 
logical standpoint this condition should be condemned, 
because the dense foliage prevents the lumber from rap- 
idly drying out after rains, thus promoting decay. 
