In building the Bay Ridge tunnel sewer, in 62d and 64th Streets, Brooklyn, the arch timber bracing shown in Fig. 1, Plate XXVI, was used for more than 4,000 ft., or for two-thirds of the whole 5,800 ft. called for in the contract. The external width of opening, measured at the wall-plate, averaged about 19 ft. for the 141/2-ft. circular sewer and 191/2 ft. for the 15-ft. sewer. The arch timber segments in the cross-section were 10 by 12-in. North Carolina pine of good grade, with 2 in. off the butt for a bearing to take up the thrust. They were set 5 ft. apart on centers, and rested on 6 by 12-in. wall-plates of the same material as noted above. The ultimate strength of this material, across the grain, when dry and in good condition, as given by the United States Forestry Department tests is about 1,000 lb. in compression. Some tests[C] made in 1907 by Mr. E.F. Sherman for the Charles River Dam in Boston, Mass., show that in yellow pine, which had been water-soaked for two years, checks began to open at from 388 to 581 lb. per sq. in., and that yields of 1/4 in. were noted at from 600 to 1,000 lb. As the tunnel wall-plates described in this paper were subject to occasional saturation, and always to a moist atmosphere, they could never have been considered as equal to dry material. Had the full loading shown by the foregoing come on these wall-plates, they would have been subjected to a stress of about 25 tons each, or nearly one-half of their ultimate strength. In only one or two instances, covering stretches of 100 ft. in one case and 200 ft. in another, where there were large areas of quicksand sufficient to cause semi-aqueous pressure, or pockets of the same material causing eccentric loading, did these wall-plates show any signs of heavy pressure, and in many instances they were in such good condition that they could be taken out and used a second and a third time. Two especially interesting instances came under the writer's observation: In one case, due to a collapse of the internal bracing, the load of an entire section, 25 ft. long and 19 ft. wide, was carried for several hours on ribs spaced 5 ft. apart. The minimum cross-section of these ribs was 73 sq. in., and they were under a stress, as noted above, of 50,000 lb., or nearly up to the actual limit of strength of the wall-plate where the rib bore on it. When these wall-plates were examined, after replacing the internal bracing, they did not appear to have been under any unusual stress. [Illustration: PLATE XXV, FIG. 1.--NORMAL SLOPES AND STRATA OF NEWLY EXCAVATED BANKS.] [Illustration: PLATE XXV, FIG. 2.--NORMAL SLOPES AND STRATA OF NEWLY EXCAVATED BANKS.]