SAP-STAIN, MOLD, AND DECAY IN GREEN WOOD. 
5 
vegetables, cereals, mushrooms, and various soft plant tissues are 
brought about through the agency of certain oxidizing ferments, the 
oxidases and the peroxidases (Aso i,Clark, 8, 9\ Kastle, 27). 
These ferments are sometimes distinguished by the production of a 
strong blue color in a tincture of guaiacum when used in the presence 
of oxygen or hydrogen peroxid 
(Haas and Hill, 16 , p. 383). 
Bailey (6) states that the ac¬ 
tivity of these oxidizing enzyms 
increases with the rise in tem¬ 
perature to a certain point, 
which may be called the opti¬ 
mum, and then decreases as the 
temperature is raised above this 
point. In almost every case, ac¬ 
cording to the same authority, 
the activity is entirely destroyed 
before a temperature of 100° C. 
(212° F.) is reached. He also 
states that the activity of these 
oxidizing ferments is dimin¬ 
ished or destroyed by certain 
antiseptics and by other chemi¬ 
cal substances. According to 
Aso (i, 2), such substances as 
tannin, sodium fluorid, and so¬ 
dium silicofluorid, interfere 
with the color reactions nor¬ 
mally produced by oxidases. 
Bailey (5) notes the strong 
similarity existing between the 
oxidizing activities of these en- 
z} r ms and the chemical reactions 
responsible for certain kinds of 
sap-stain, namely, post-mortem 
oxidation with change of color 
produced by solutions in con¬ 
tact with the air and the similar variations in the activity of the 
discoloring agency in relation to variations in temperature. 
If discolorations in sapwood are due to the activity of oxidizing 
enzyms, which, as has been shown, are rendered inactive by exposure 
to a temperature of 100° C. (212° F.), a logical prophylactic measure 
would be the submersion of timber in boiling water. Bailey ( 5 ), 
during the spring of 1910, performed certain dipping experiments. 
Fig. 1.—Board of sugar pine, showing 
chemical stain. The unstained area in 
the lower half of the illustration indi¬ 
cates the position of a crosser during the 
kiln treatment. The crosser afforded pro¬ 
tection from oxidation. Photographed by 
H. D. Tiemann. 
