The representative., 1895-10-09
lI
ith success in the artificial seasoning

with success in the artificial seasoning
of wood.
The best ash wood weighs 5S pounds 3
ounces when green to the cubic foot, and
SO pounds when drw.
Experienced lumbermen can ascertain
almost exactly the condition of tree by
striking it heavy blow with an ak and
judging by the sound
DRY rot" is the putrefaction of the
vegetable albumen in wood, and can be
prevented only by some process of hard
!. ening or extracting this element
The best process of seasoning is that
accomplished by placing lumber dry
sheds leaving it entirely open to ventila-
tion, but protected from rain.
The time for seasoning wood varies
very greatly, extending from weeks in
the case of some timbers to many months
or years in the case of hard dense wood
Timber is best hardened and preserved
by withdrawing its fluid constituents,
hardening its albumen and filling the cells
as far as posasible with antispectic prep
arations.
Wood is not generally we'll seasoned by
very high temperature. If the heat is
too great the moisture escapes very rap
idly and the wood is liable to crack or
split.
The durability of wood does not, as
some suppose, depend on it's weight
Larch, one of the lightest woods, and To-
Gust, one of the heaviest, are alike al
| most indestructible.
Experienced lumbermen say that in
the process of seasoning wood should be
occasionally replied and decayed or de-
fective pieces removed lest they infect
the others.
"Wind shakes are circular cracks in
tree separating the different layers
They are supposed to be caused by wind
from such tree.
Many woods have sugar and gum in
their composition, and the presence of
these elements is generally shown by tho
attraction the wood seems to have for
many kinds of insects.
The jarrOW wood, which grows in Aus
tralia, is almost the only kind known to
the lumbermen which effectively reists
the depredations of insects Not an in
sect will touch it.
Rosewood is so called, not because it
is red, but because when freshly cut, it
emits the fragrance of roses. 1t is OF
only moderate weight, cubic foot
weighing ass pounds.
The hardest varieties Of wood, such as
mahogany, ebony and lignum-vitae,
grow in tropical climates, but their wood
does not season as we'll as that of trees
IN the temperate zones.
Common rot in wood is caused by bad
piling or exposure, and the infallible
signs of this disease in wood are yellow
ish patches on the ends of the pieces or
yellowish dust in the cracks
The strongest known wood is said to
be lancewood; it's tensile strength per
square inch is $4,000 pounds-that is to
say, that weight is required to bear asun-
| der piece of it inch square.
| AS rule, trees which grow in moist
ground produce wood that is more sappy
and less durable than those which grow
on dry earth. To this rule, however,
there are everal notable exceptions.
| Antiseptic preparations may easily be
| forced into wood by causing them to fol-
low the lines taken by it's sap; otherwise.
it is exceedingly difficult fully to impreg-
| nate the wood with them.
The highest known wood is that of the
Anona Palustr1s, OF Brazil; which is much
| lighter than cork. The heaviest is the
Iron Bark, of Australia, which weighs
nearly 100 pounds to the cubic foot.
Trees which have grown on northern
exposure, as on the north side of a hill.
| produce better, harder and more dura-
! BILE lumber than those which have been
pampered by the southern sun.
| Chemists tell us that As per cent of green
wood consists of water. They estimate that
/ it is almost impossible to expel all the wa
ter from seasoned timber, about 10 per cent
remaining even in highly seasoned woods
In very dry atmospheres the durability of
wood is almost incredible. Pieces of wood
/ wooden caskets, and wooden articles have
/ been withdrawn from Egyptian catacombs
| of an antiquity 1000 or 5000 years ante-dat-
| ing the Christian era.
Tough wood or wood that is hard to split
| is so because of the fibers of which it is
composed cross and interlace each other
| The wood of the elm is familiar example
| The toughest wood known is the lgnum
vitae. 1t cannot be worked by splitting.
Timber long under water soon disnte-
CRATES on exposure to air. There are in the
| River Thames a number of piles still sound
which are believed to have been driven
there by the Roman engineers when the in
vaders first made bridge across that
| stream.
A