Note 64 — PART IV. NOTICES OF AUTHORS RELATIVE TO TIMBER. (continued 3)

The matured timber of the larch, in some cases, remains for a considerable time stained before the rot proceeds rapidly; in other cases, the rot makes quick progress; in this rapid decomposition, certain kinds of fungi assist greatly. When once seated, they seem to form a putrid atmosphere or tainted circle around them, either by their living exhalations, or corrupt emanations when dead, which is poisonous to the less vital parts of superior life, and also expedites the commencement of decay in sound dead organic matter, such as timber, thus furthering the decomposition so far as to render it suitable food for their foul appetite, and paving the way to their further progress.