The Mechanical Properties of Wood Part 8

All fungi require moisture and air[43] for their growth.

Deprived of either of these the fungus dies or ceases to develop. Just what degree of moisture in wood is necessary for the "dry-rot" fungus has not been determined, but it is evidently considerably above that of thoroughly air-dry timber, probably more than 15 per cent moisture. Hence the importance of free circulation of air about all timbers in a building.

[Footnote 43: A culture of fungus placed in a gla.s.s jar and the air pumped out ceases to grow, but will start again as soon as oxygen is admitted.]

Warmth is also conducive to the growth of fungi, the most favorable temperature being about 90F. They cannot grow in extreme cold, although no degree of cold such as occurs naturally will kill them. On the other hand, high temperature will kill them, but the spores may survive even the boiling temperature. Mould fungus has been observed to develop rapidly at 130F. in a dry kiln in moist air, a condition under which an animal cannot live more than a few minutes. This fungus was killed, however, at about 140 or 145F.[44]

[Footnote 44: Experiments in kiln-drying _Eucalyptus_ in Berkeley, U.S. Forest Service.]

The fungus (_Endothia parasitica_ And.) which causes the chestnut blight kills the trees by girdling them and has no direct effect upon the wood save possibly the four or five growth rings of the sapwood.[45]

[Footnote 45: See Anderson, Paul J.: The morphology and life history of the chestnut blight fungus. Bul. No. 7, Penna.

Chestnut Tree Blight Com., Harrisburg, 1914, p. 17.]

PARASITIC PLANT INJURIES.[46]

[Footnote 46: See York, Harlan H.: The anatomy and some of the biological aspects of the "American mistletoe." Bul. 120, Sci.

Ser. No. 13, Univ. of Texas, Austin, 1909.

Bray, Wm. L.: The mistletoe pest in the Southwest. Bul. 166, U.S. Bu. Plant Ind., Washington, 1910.

Meinecke, E.P.: Forest tree diseases common in California and Nevada. U.S. Forest Service, Washington, 1914, pp. 54-58.]

The most common of the higher parasitic plants damaging timber trees are mistletoes. Many species of deciduous trees are attacked by the common mistletoe (_Phoradendron flavescens_). It is very prevalent in the South and Southwest and when present in sufficient quant.i.ty does considerable damage. There is also a considerable number of smaller mistletoes belonging to the genus _Razoumofskya (Arceuthobium)_ which are widely distributed throughout the country, and several of them are common on coniferous trees in the Rocky Mountains and along the Pacific coast.

One effect of the common mistletoe is the formation of large swellings or tumors. Often the entire tree may become stunted or distorted. The western mistletoe is most common on the branches, where it produces "witches' broom." It frequently attacks the trunk as well, and boards cut from such trees are filled with long, radial holes which seriously damage or destroy the value of the timber affected.

LOCALITY OF GROWTH

The data available regarding the effect of the locality of growth upon the properties of wood are not sufficient to warrant definite conclusions. The subject has, however, been kept in mind in many of the U.S. Forest Service timber tests and the following quotations are a.s.sembled from various reports:

"In both the Cuban and longleaf pine the locality where grown appears to have but little influence on weight or strength, and there is no reason to believe that the longleaf pine from one State is better than that from any other, since such variations as are claimed can be found on any 40-acre lot of timber in any State. But with loblolly and still more with shortleaf this seems not to be the case. Being widely distributed over many localities different in soil and climate, the growth of the shortleaf pine seems materially influenced by location. The wood from the southern coast and gulf region and even Arkansas is generally heavier than the wood from localities farther north.

Very light and fine-grained wood is seldom met near the southern limit of the range, while it is almost the rule in Missouri, where forms resembling the Norway pine are by no means rare. The loblolly, occupying both wet and dry soils, varies accordingly."

Cir. No. 12, p. 6.

" ... It is clear that as all localities have their heavy and their light timber, so they all share in strong and weak, hard and soft material, and the difference in quality of material is evidently far more a matter of individual variation than of soil or climate." _Ibid._, p.22

"A representative committee of the Carriage Builders'

a.s.sociation had publicly declared that this important industry could not depend upon the supplies of southern timber, as the oak grown in the South lacked the necessary qualities demanded in carriage construction. Without experiment this statement could be little better than a guess, and was doubly unwarranted, since it condemned an enormous amount of material, and one produced under a great variety of conditions and by at least a dozen species of trees, involving, therefore, a complexity of problems difficult enough for the careful investigator, and entirely beyond the few unsystematic observations of the members of a committee on a flying trip through one of the greatest timber regions of the world.

"A number of samples were at once collected (part of them supplied by the carriage builders' committee), and the fallacy of the broad statement mentioned was fully demonstrated by a short series of tests and a more extensive study into structure and weight of these materials. From these tests it appears that pieces of white oak from Arkansas excelled well-selected pieces from Connecticut, both in stiffness and endwise compression (the two most important forms of resistance)." Report upon the forestry investigations of the U.S.D.A. 1877-1898, p. 331. See also Rep. of Div. of For., 1890, p. 209.

"In some regions there are many small, stunted hickories, which most users will not touch. They have narrow sap, are likely to be birdpecked, and show very slow growth. Yet five of these trees from a steep, dry south slope in West Virginia had an average strength fully equal to that of the pignut from the better situation, and were superior in toughness, the work to maximum load being 36.8 as against 31.2 for pignut. The trees had about twice as many rings per inch as others from better situations.

"This, however, is not very significant, as trees of the same species, age, and size, growing side by side under the same conditions of soil and situation, show great variation in their technical value. It is hard to account for this difference, but it seems that trees growing in wet or moist situations are rather inferior to those growing on fresher soil; also, it is claimed by many hickory users that the wood from limestone soils is superior to that from sandy soils.

"One of the moot questions among hickory men is the relative value of northern and southern hickory. The impression prevails that southern hickory is more porous and brash than hickory from the north. The tests ... indicate that southern hickory is as tough and strong as northern hickory of the same age. But the southern hickories have a greater tendency to be shaky, and this results in much waste. In trees from southern river bottoms the loss through shakes and grub-holes in many cases amounts to as much as 50 per cent.

"It is clear, therefore, that the difference in northern and southern hickory is not due to geographic location, but rather to the character of timber that is being cut. Nearly all of that from southern river bottoms and from the c.u.mberland Mountains is from large, old-growth trees; that from the north is from younger trees which are grown under more favorable conditions, and it is due simply to the greater age of the southern trees that hickory from that region is lighter and more brash than that from the north." Bul. 80, pp. 52-55.

SEASON OF CUTTING

It is generally believed that winter-felled timber has decided advantages over that cut at other seasons of the year, and to that cause alone are frequently ascribed much greater durability, less liability to check and split, better color, and even increased strength and toughness. The conclusion from the various experiments made on the subject is that while the time of felling may, and often does, affect the properties of wood, such result is due to the weather conditions rather than to the condition of the wood.

There are two phases of this question. One is concerned with the physiological changes which might take place during the year in the wood of a living tree. The other deals with the purely physical results due to the weather, as differences in temperature, humidity, moisture, and other features to be mentioned later.

Those who adhere to the first view maintain that wood cut in summer is quite different in composition from that cut in winter. One opinion is that in summer the "sap is up," while in winter it is "down," consequently winter-felled timber is drier.

A variation of this belief is that in summer the sap contains certain chemicals which affect the properties of wood and does not contain them in winter. Again it is sometimes a.s.serted that wood is actually denser in winter than in summer, as part of the wood substance is dissolved out in the spring and used for plant food, being restored in the fall.

It is obvious that such views could apply only to sapwood, since it alone is in living condition at the time of cutting.

Heartwood is dead wood and has almost no function in the existence of the tree other than the purely mechanical one of support. Heartwood does undergo changes, but they are gradual and almost entirely independent of the seasons.

Sapwood might reasonably be expected to respond to seasonal changes, and to some extent it does. Just beneath the bark there is a thin layer of cells which during the growing season have not attained their greatest density. With the exception of this one annual ring, or portion of one, the density of the wood substance of the sapwood is nearly the same the year round.

Slight variations may occur due to impregnation with sugar and starch in the winter and its dissolution in the growing season.

The time of cutting can have no material effect on the inherent strength and other mechanical properties of wood except in the outermost annual ring of growth.

The popular belief that sap is up in the spring and summer and is down in the winter has not been substantiated by experiment.

There are seasonal differences in the composition of sap, but so far as the amount of sap in a tree is concerned there is fully as much, if not more, during the winter than in summer.

Winter-cut wood is not drier, to begin with, than summer-felled--in reality, it is likely to be wetter.[47]

[Footnote 47: See Record, S.J.: Sap in relation to the properties of wood. Proc. Am. Wood Preservers' a.s.sn., Baltimore, Md., 1913, pp. 160-166.

Kempfer, Wm. H.: The air-seasoning of timber. In Bul. 161, Am.

Ry. Eng. a.s.sn., 1913, p. 214.]

The important consideration in regard to this question is the series of circ.u.mstances attending the handling of the timber after it is felled. Wood dries more rapidly in summer than in winter, not because there is less moisture at one time than another, but because of the higher temperature in summer. This greater heat is often accompanied by low humidity, and conditions are favorable for the rapid removal of moisture from the exposed portions of wood. Wood dries by evaporation, and other things being equal, this will proceed much faster in hot weather than in cold.

It is a matter of common observation that when wood dries it shrinks, and if shrinkage is not uniform in all directions the material pulls apart, causing season checks. (See Fig. 27.) If evaporation proceeds more rapidly on the outside than inside, the greater shrinkage of the outer portions is bound to result in many checks, the number and size increasing with the degree of inequality of drying.

In cold weather, drying proceeds slowly but uniformly, thus allowing the wood elements to adjust themselves with the least amount of rupturing. In summer, drying proceeds rapidly and irregularly, so that material seasoned at that time is more likely to split and check.

There is less danger of sap rot when trees are felled in winter because the fungus does not grow in the very cold weather, and the lumber has a chance to season to below the danger point before the fungus gets a chance to attack it. If the logs in each case could be cut into lumber immediately after felling and given exactly the same treatment, for example, kiln-dried, no difference due to the season of cutting would be noted.

WATER CONTENT[48]

[Footnote 48: See Tiemann, H.D.: Effect of moisture upon the strength and stiffness of wood. Bul. 70, U.S. Forest Service, Washington, D.C., 1906; also Cir. 108, 1907.]