Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1896 — Some Facts About Wood. [ARTICLE]

Some Facts About Wood.

Observations upon the preservation of timber have shown that the more warm and humid the atmosphere, the more rapidly the wood deteriorates! also that timber felled in winter ltf more durable than that felled in summer; and that timber raised in cold climates Is most durable, while the best timber is produced on meager soil. When under water, the most lasting woods are oak, alder and pine, the least so being birch, linden and willow; la the air, timber is exposed to the ravages of insects, this being the case with sap wood more than the heart wood; woods rich in resin, like the elm and poplar, are not so much troubled as those like the alder, willow, birch, yoke elm and red beech, which have an abundance of sap and are rapidly deteriorated. Timber construction which is protected from the heat and humidity is only endangered by worms, and, on the contrary, that which is in a damp and badly aired place injures by rotting, which is really the result of microscopic vegetable growths. The primary cause of the decay of wood is the presence of albuminoid substances in the sap and lncrusting materials, these naturally affording nourishment to insects and microscopic vegetations and their destructive work—New York Sun.