TIMBER STORAGE IN THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN STATES. 
and sweep over the lumber, wetting it and depositing silt over great 
quantities of the stock (fig. 2). The writer has seen instances along 
the Atlantic seaboard where lumber stacks at least 12 feet high were 
thus silted completely to the top. A somewhat similar condition 
exists along certain rivers during times of flood (fig. 3) # 
Where it is necessary to store lumber upon low swampy ground 
(figs. 4 and 5), the weed problem also becomes a serious factor. In 
the first place the growth of vegetation is so luxuriant as to require 
constant attention, and in the second place the ground is not even or 
firm enough to alloAV convenient mowing. The result is that some- 
times the weeds are allowed to develop above the height of the foun- 
dations, thus cutting 
off air circulation be- 
neath the piles and 
hence increasing the 
danger from fungi 
many fold. 
QUALITY OF STOCK 
WITH REFERENCE 
TO DECAY. 
The fact that 
American mills are 
utilizing their timber 
to a smaller size than 
formerly throws a 
greater quantity of 
the inferior grades 
upon the storage 
yards. Rapid deteri- 
oration in this low- 
grade stock may re- 
sult unless it be care- 
fully handled. In the 
Fig 
4. — Lumber piled on low swampy land at a Texas 
sawmill. The serious decay in this yard is due to the 
excess of soil moisture and poor circulation beneath 
the stacks. 
case of many yellow-pine structural timbers it is a matter of common 
observation that the quality is growing decidedly poor, this being in 
large part due to the fact that small second-growth trees are being 
logged and cut into dimension sizes. In the shortleaf-pine business, 
in particular, a single mill rarely attempts to cut both board and 
dimension stock. As a rule, it is said to be more profitable to cut the 
better grade larger shortleaf and loblolly trees into 1 and 2 inch 
stock. Hence, for structural sizes the trade largely depends on cer- 
tain timber mills, as well as a multitude of small portable mills 
operating in young second-growth timber. The storage of these less 
71022°— Bull. 510—17 2 
