VI 
extraction and milling methods which make prompt conversion very 
dilBcult at the present time. 
It is no uncommon sight to see country-made vehicles and fur- 
niture being made up of wood but freshly sawn from the logs. And 
this practice is not limited to those of meagre opportunity or of nar- 
row vision. Some of the finest public buildings in India are finished 
with expensive, but unseasoned, woodwork with the result that 
within a few months after completion the work becomes severely 
discredited and at best but a striking testimony of the real economy 
of using thoroughly seasoned wood, even though its initial cost is 
greater than that of green wood. 
The problem in this country is more complicated than elsewhere 
because of the climatic extremes to which wood is subjected from 
season to season or upon shipment from one region to another. In 
efforts to insure that woodwork or timber withstands such extremes 
three cardinal principles must be borne in mind : first, although sea- 
soning will not eliminate all difficulty with the expansion and con- 
traction of wood, dry wood is better able to withstand climatic ex- 
tremes than green wood : second, timber must be seasoned to an 
extent dependent upon the atmospheric conditions under which it is 
to be used rather than upon those of the locality in which the sea- 
soning is accomplished: and third, for close fitting woodwork the 
degree of seasoning, i.e., the moisture content, at the time of cutting 
to finished dimensions must be known with reference to the 
extremes to which it will be subjected in service so that all possible 
allowance may be made in the dimensions of the parts and the form 
of construction. A critical question to be raised in this connection 
is “ To what extent will the seasoning process, when properly car- 
ried out, eliminate the difficulties encountered with woodwork in 
India?” The answer must be ‘‘ Although it is only one of several 
factors to be taken into consideration, seasoning is of basic 
importance.” Stable woodwork involves, in addition to careful sea- 
soning, (1) the selection of the species that have the least shrinkage 
and tendency to warp and twist with a given change in atmospheric 
conditions, (2) the application of an effective coating such as varnish, 
paint, or oil to the finished article in order to retard the rate of change 
in moisture in the w’ood and thus prevent periodic, sudden swelling 
and shrinking, and (3) the careful design of wooden parts so that the 
members may expand and contract freely within prescribed channels 
according to the demands of the atmosphere and without ruining the 
part or the whole. These are considerations involving detailed in- 
vestigation and warranting special attention and should be taken up 
simultaneously with the problems of seasoning. The study of these 
factors leads to one of the most intricate problems connected with 
our knowledge of wood, namely, the hygroscopic relation between 
wood and the atmosphere, with reference to the behaviour of wood. 
The success of our efforts to eliminate the difficulties with woodwork 
