| Soaked | Green | 14 | 11.5 | 9.5 | Kiln-dry |
| MOISTURE CONDITION | 50 per | 23 per | per | per | per | 6.2 per |
| | cent | cent | cent | cent | cent | cent |
| -------------------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+----------|
| Number of tests averaged | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| _r_ in bending | 4,920 | 5,944 | 6,924 | 7,852 | 9,280 | 11,550 |
| _C_ in compression | 4,668 | 5,100 | 6,466 | 7,466 | 8,985 | 10,910 |
| Per cent _r_ is in | | | | | | |
| excess of _C_ | 5.5 | 16.5 | 7.1 | 5.2 | 3.3 | 5.9 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| SPRUCE |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Soaked | Green | 10 | 8.1 | Kiln-dry |
| MOISTURE CONDITION | 30 per | 30 per | per | per | 3.9 per |
| | cent | cent | cent | cent | cent |
|----------------------------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+----------|
| Number of tests averaged | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| _r_ in bending | 3,002 | 3,362 | 6,458 | 8,400 | 10,170 |
| _C_ in compression | 2,680 | 3,025 | 6,120 | 7,610 | 9,335 |
| Per cent _r_ | | | | | |
| is in excess of _C_ | 12.0 | 11.1 | 5.5 | 10.4 | 9.0 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

When a short column is compressed until it breaks, the manner of
failure depends partly upon the anatomical structure and partly
upon the degree of humidity of the wood. The fibres (tracheids
in conifers) act as hollow tubes bound closely together, and in
giving way they either (1) buckle, or (2) bend.[5]

[Footnote 5: See Bulletin 70, _op. cit._, p. 129.]

The first is typical of any dry thin-walled cells, as is usually
the case in seasoned white pine and spruce, and in the early
wood of hard pines, hemlock, and other species with decided
contrast between the two portions of the growth ring. As a rule
buckling of a tracheid begins at the bordered pits which