west--and there is not a State or Territory in the Union which has not a representative in this collection of logs. On arrival here the logs are green, and the first thing in the way of treatment after their arrival is to season them, a work requiring great care to prevent them from "checking," as it is technically called, or "season cracking," as the unscientific term the splitting of the wood in radiating lines during the seasoning process. As is well known, the sap-wood of a tree seasons much more quickly than does the heart of the wood. The prevention of this splitting is very necessary in preparing these specimens for exhibition, for when once the wood has split its value for dressing for exhibition is gone. A new plan to prevent this destruction of specimens is now being tried with some success under the direction of Prof. Bickmore, superintendent of the museum. Into the base of the log and alongside the heart a deep hole is bored with an auger. As the wood seasons this hole permits of a pressure inward and so has in many instances doubtless saved valuable specimens. One of the finest in the collection, a specimen of the persimmon tree, some two feet in diameter, has been ruined by the seasoning process. On one side there is a huge crack, extending from the top to the bottom of the log, which looks as though some amateur woodman had attempted to split it with an ax and had made a poor job of it. The great shrinking of the sap-wood of the persimmon tree makes the wood of but trifling value commercially. It also has a discouraging effect upon collectors, as it is next to impossible to cure a specimen, so that all but this one characteristic of the wood can be shown to the public in a perfect form.