JOURNAL OF ACBCTOAL RESEARCH 
Vol. XXIX Washington, D. C., December 1 , 1924 No. 11 
THE DIAGNOSIS OF DECAY IN WOOD 1 
By Ernest E. Hubert 
Assistant Pathologist, Office of Investigations in Forest Pathology, Bureau of Plant 
Industry , United States Department of Agriculture 
INTRODUCTION 
There are many industrial problems 
connected with the staining and rotting 
of wood. The questions asked by 
practical lumbermen could be answered 
much more satisfactorily if a reliable 
means were at hand for identifying the 
fungi producing decay in wood and 
wood products. The present study is 
an attempt to furnish a sound basis for 
future investigations leading toward * 
more accurate diagnosis. 
Although considerable work has 
been done by various investigators on 
many phases of the wood-rot problem, 
there is no literature dealing specifi¬ 
cally with the diagnosis of decay. Early 
works on forest pathology were pri¬ 
marily histological studies, with a 
background of field observations on the 
life histories of the causal organisms. 
Both Theodor Hartig (27), 2 who as 
early as 1833 sought the cause of wood 
rots, and Willkomm (90), whose work 
appeared in 1866, believed in the spon¬ 
taneous generation of fungi in wood. 
In 1878 Robert Hartig (28, 29, 30) 
showed that a certain fungus was 
responsible for a certain type of decay 
which had a fairly constant character 
in various species of wood. Later 
work in Germany was done by Falck 
(22) and Moller (56) on building rots, 
Czapek (20) on enzvmic action, Munch 
(57, 58, 59), Mayr (53), Tubeuf (79, 
p. 14-18, 31-44) j Neger (60) and others 
on biology of wood-rot fungi. 
In England, Ward (81, p. 287; 82; 
83), Biffen (5, 6), Bayliss (4) and Hiley 
(35) have contributed to the detailed 
information on wood rots and the fungi 
concerned. In Canada, Buller (11, 12, 
13, 14 , 15), Faull (23, 24), and White 
(89); and in the United States, Spauld¬ 
ing (77, 78), Schrenk (68, 69, 70, 71, 
72, 73), Schrenk and Spaulding (74), 
Atkinson (2), Rankin (61), Long (46, 
47, 48 , 49), Meinecke (54), Weir ( 84 , 
85, 86, 87), and others (1, 10, 33, 39, 
41, 44, 65) have given us valuable 
information on wood rots. The more 
recent contributions of Boyce (7, 8, 
9) and of Kauffman and Kerber (43) 
deal mainly with incipient decay in 
wood. The papers in which cultural 
experiments with wood-rot fungi are 
presented have been comparatively 
few, that of Costantin and Matruchot 
(17) in France being one of the earliest. 
In some of the articles cited above, 
statements are found expressing belief 
that characters of decay may be used to 
identify the fungus causing the rot. 
Since Hartig’s time the presence of 
the fungus sporophore in close prox¬ 
imity to a specific decay in wood has 
been the single means of identifying 
that decay. However, the knowledge 
of wood rots has been gradually 
accumulating. The need for better 
diagnostic methods has become more 
and more apparent. Long and Harsch 
(50) have emphasized the importance 
of the cultural characters of fungi as 
diagnostic aids in establishing their 
identity. In the study here presented 
the author will attempt to show how 
gross, histological, and cultural charac¬ 
ters may be applied to the diagnosis of 
decav in wood. 
1 Received for publication May 13, 1924—issued February, 1925. Paper in cooperation with the Forest 
Products Laboratory, Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
2 Reference is made by number (italic) to “Literature cited,” pp. 365-567. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. XXIX,No. 11 
Washington, D. C. Dec. 1, 1924 
Key No. G-417 
7581—25 f- 1 (523) 
