Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/337

XXXIX.] the port of shipment, often, and quite unintentionally, do good service in giving it some weeks, if not months, of water seasoning, which should be estimated for in determining its fitness for use, whether it be as a substitute for Oak or otherwise.

Square Fir timber, and rough spars for masts, are often kept too long afloat after they are purchased, under the impression that they will soon be wanted, and therefore their temporary submergence is hardly worth while. Yet, perhaps, from some cause or other, they are not brought so quickly into use as was expected, and months, even years, may pass by without much thought being given to them. The consequence is that just about the line of flotation, and that part which the water washes, the logs are often found to be seriously deteriorated. To insure the preservation of this wood it will therefore be necessary to submerge it without delay.

In cases where it is not convenient to submerge the timber at once, it would do some good if the logs were occasionally turned over. It is a little difficult, however, to accomplish after one-half the log is soddened with water, as then it can only be managed if secured in rafts, and it is almost impossible to permanently change the position of a log, if it be crooked, from that which it naturally takes by its own gravity in the water.

To aid the natural seasoning, and bring about at the earliest possible time the evaporation of the moisture which is contained in all newly-felled timber, the trees should not be allowed to remain long upon the ground where they grew, as the soil is generally damp and wet. They should rather be carried off as early as convenient to the timber yard, and stored there for preservation.

One of the earliest causes of decay may be accounted for by the way in which valuable logs of timber are too