Excerpt from The Art of Developing Curing and Preserving Wood and Lumber Seasoning by what is known as the 'natural process was the first adopted for this purpose, and consisted in a slow drying out of the fluid matter of the wood by exposing it to the action of the open air. As the result sought could only be effected by an exposure of the wood for many seasons, this mode of treatment was termed seasoning, and the treated wood was called seasoned. So generally, and for so longa time has this natural process been in use, that the driving out of the sap by any means is called seasoning, and wood which has parted with any portion of its sap is designated as seasoned. While by seasoning, some of the putrescible substances and fermentable principles are expelled, and the operation of the causes of decay is thus counteracted, or postponed to some extent, its chief object is to put wood into a condition to keep its shape and form. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.