Part V.] Sweet: On Air Seasoning of Indian Timbers. 
CHAPTER IV. 
Seasoning Characteristics of the Various Species under Test. 
It is impossible with our present knowledge accurately or finally to 
describe the defects that attend the seasoning of the various woods 
dealt with in this note. Under other conditions of climate, stacking, 
and sheltering, the timbers probably would have seasoned quite 
differently. The necessity of depending upon numerous officers to 
select the material, lay out the experiments, supervise conversion and 
stacking, and, in some cases, to make the final inspection has 
introduced variables leading to results which in many cases are not 
truly comparable, inasmuch as each individual officer had his own 
way of interpreting the general directions and putting them into 
effect. 
The conditions surrounding the experiments as carried out were 
not exactly the same as might be. expected in commercial practice, 
or in larger schemes, so that it is impossible to conclude as to how 
much degrade may be expected in actual practice. For example, as 
has been pointed out, the piles were very small in every case. The 
bulk of the timber itself offered little or no protection against 
excessive circulation of air. Moreover, the foundations were very 
uneven with the result that much of the timber was more badly 
cupped, warped, and twisted than otherwise would have been the 
case. 
The most that can be done is to describe the general behaviour of 
the different woods during seasoning under the conditions surrounding 
the experiments in each Division, and the forms of depreciation to 
which they are especially liable. The experiments show with a 
varying degree of definiteness which of the four treatments gave the 
best results. 
On the whole the results were good and indicate that most of the 
woods can be air-seasoned without excessive depreciation. 
(1) Acer Oampbellii (Appendix I — I). Darjeeling Division, Bengal. 
The results from the seasoning of this wood indicate that it is a 
non-refractory species showing little tendency to crack, split, or twist. 
Decay and mould severely damaged the timber held in the logs for 
seasoning'. Although the girdling experiment was not completed 
inasmuch as the trees died very slowly after deep girdling and were 
not absolutely dead until the end of two years, examination of the 
girdled trees showed that shot-hole borers had attacked the trees and 
■apparently had done considerable damage. The living trees of this 
species are subject to attack by insects which leave large holes in the 
•converted timber. 
[ 167 I] 
