Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/339

XXXIX.] ladder; he will find it convenient for examining and selecting his logs for conversion.

These rules were carefully carried out at Woolwich Dockyard, where for some few years previous to its being closed, an immense quantity of timber was kept. The stacks, besides being covered in, had the sides and one end also screened from the weather; all this was done with the coarsest description of board in store, and such as could not have been used for joiners' general purposes. The boards forming the screen at the sides were slipped into a groove at top and bottom, and a rail or fillet midway up and outside was secured to the inner framework of the shed by nails driven between the edges of the boards. No other fastening was required, and the advantage of the plan was this—it allowed sufficient play for the boards to shrink or expand according to the weather and the season, while they were still removable at pleasure for any other purpose.

The end or working face of the stack was similarly closed up, but in this case, the boards being more frequently shifted, they were, for convenience, clamped together in twos and threes, and secured with a shifting bar half way up. The timber was thus well protected from the weather, and well ventilated, though not subjected to a draught; and, in 1869, Woolwich yard contained probably the finest and best-preserved stock of timber in England.

It will be seen, then, that the preservation of timber may be cheaply and economically effected, and its seasoning brought about in a steady and regular manner by the adoption of the simplest precautions. Experience has shown that this is the only certain method of insuring its durability, and it is therefore fit that the best attention should be paid to it.