108
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
another, by the use of suitable stickers, in order to allow free
access of air into the pile and thus keep the surface of the wood
too dry to permit of the germination of fungal spores ; preferably
the ends of prepared timber, and logs and trunks will be painted
or tarred, since here in particular fungal attack is more likely to
occur; with timber in the round all heartwood would be painted
over with a suitable preservative, all piles would be roofed over
to keep the wood dry; a careful watch would be kept for the
appearance of checks and cracks, and suitable measures adopted
as soon as they appeared, so as to prevent, as far as possible,
the ingress of fungal spores into cracks where they might find
sufficiently moist conditions for their germination; all rotting
wood, in fact, any wood exhibiting signs of decay, however
slight, or even that which had been in contact with such wood,
would be burnt, and all waste and sawdust would be similarly
treated ; moreover, to promote dry conditions, the yard would
be adequately drained. Anyone who has visited a timber yard,
and especially a large one, will appreciate that the adoption of
all these measures would, to say the least, prove difficult, and
might well prove economically unsound if rigidly carried out.
It is, of course, in the merchant's interest to protect his stock as
far as possible, but it is equally in his interests to strike some
sort of mean between what is economically sound and what is
not; a visit to a large timber yard will generally convince anyone
that fairly elaborate precautions along the lines which have been
indicated are taken, and that the principles of hygiene, as
applied to timber, are pretty fully grasped, if only empirically.
In the forest, clean forestry, as far as practicable, is of the
utmost importance: removal and burning of diseased wood, the
covering of large wounds and sometimes the destruction of
sporophores and the removal and burning of roots where root
parasites are concerned, are obvious methods of controlling
fungus pests, but here again the economic aspect has to be taken
into consideration. Such methods may, of course, lead to the
extermination of rare species which the scientist and nature-
lover would wish preserved.
The choice of a suitable time for felling timber may help to
prevent fungal infection of the felled wood. It is not proposed
to discuss here the relative merits of summer and winter felling,
but it may be pointed out that in summer temperatures are more