Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1850-11-20
The Farmer.
From the American Agrieulfurist.
Causes Of Decay In Timber-Season
for FEELING.

Considering The magnitude Of The inter-
es,s involved In The preservation of,imber.
it is surely disgrace to US Of the presen,
day. that doubts should be as strong as ev.
ct concerning the true causes Of its decay.
Ia an absence Of certainty as TO these, for
many years. attention has been turned
away from the essential part Of The inquiry,
and directed merely 10 secondary points.
The prctsem to te solved is, uhat causes
the decuy of timber !
10 the first place. it is presumed that no
one will dispute the fact that ancient timber
lasted longer than modern. That being
granted. We have only 10 ascertain what
can have caused the difference. Our Anglo.
Saxon fosefa,hers knew nothing OF bichlo.
ride Of mercury, su'phase and pyroligni,e
Of iron, chloride Of zinc, nor creosote.
There we're no Kyans nor Burnetts, no
paynes nor Boucheries, in their days; vet.
they perfectly understood the at, Of render
ing wood imperishable. as is sufficiently
at,cs,ed by wha, remains Of their works.
The great, though forgotten architects, who
fixed the wooden roof Of Westminster
Hall, 10 the time Of Richard H., and those
Who erected the oh country churches and
corner castles Of England, must have
known much better than the architects Of
tho presen. day know how 10 prepare their
timber or their woodwork would not have
remained as sound as when it was put
together by their ariizans.
as ancien, practice is not sufficiently
recorded, we can only look 10 the nature
Of the timber itself, in order 10 learn the
causes which haslens its decay. Foremost,
among these, is its exposure 10 any moist
atmosphere treeeding a temperature Of 33'
Fahrenheit and the decay will propor-
iinnably Le hastened as the temperature Of
that atmosphere is increased. Timber,
absolutely dry, would be unable to undergo
decomposition q, any app,eciab'e rate. A
piece Of wood found at the back OF one Of
the frle1es, al Athens, by Lord Elgin, is
~ sound a present as i. could have been
in the days Of Phidias, more than 1000
years ago. Even animal matters, rapidly
as they purify. are preserved ior centuries
in the absence Of moisture. Travellers
assure US ,ha, in sLe arid plains that stretch
nor,h~ard beyond The Himalaysn range.
the corp.es of men and the carcasses Of
animals dry up instead Of roising. The
Gaucho hangs his beef in the sun, and in
the dry Climate Of the Pampas ii hardens
as so much hide, like which i, may be KEEP.
for use.
If. then, mere dryness is sufficient to
ares, the decay Of animal matter. how
much more efec,uaI must be its action
upon vegetable substances in which nat
ural tendency 10 70, IS infinitely less In
herent. Saw.dust Is but timber broken 10
pieces damp saw-dust rofs rapidly dry
saw dust will all bu. last forever. Char.
coal, one Of the most unchangeable forms
OF vegetable matter. is only timber from
which ,he last trace Of wafer has been
expelled by heat. Absence Of moisture is
therefore the great cause If preservation.
ss its presence is iha, Of decay.
Complete dryness may be assumed to
have been the cause Of the Durability OF
ancient timber. At least, in the present
state Of our information. we can refer it to
nothing else and dryness is amply suffi-
ciens to account for it. 10 the opinion Of
one Of the most experienced and philo.
sophical Of modern writers. the late Sir
Samuel Ben,ham, dryness was the great
object to be obtained in preparing timber
fax aasal purposes. Drying houses were
recoaanended by him and during all the
period 81 dis employment as civil architect
eG de Bnaish navy. this distinguished off,
Ger ocver ceased 10 point out the indispens-
aide scccssky Of securing the dryness Of
aisaber before all olher things. To the
artificial asahods axailable for this purpose.
we aeed not hece ai,ude. What we have
70 deal with is the assaral means OF bring.
ine II about. Those aatural means are
.sscA more eGecsuai lhaa any others, and
n is a question ~lrihee they can be super.
s.ded BY auy artificial aseshod whatever.
The means which trees possess Of reliev.
ing themselves from moisture, are their
leaves. which serve as very 2owerfu!
pumping apparatus, necessarily drawing
moisture from their interior, and giving
i, off to space. I, is true tina, the same nc.
lion which produces a discharge OF fluid
from the surface Of leaves, has at certain
seasons the counter effect Of again charging
the apparatus with more fluid, to repIace
tha. which is thrown of bu. this happens
only at certain seasons. Ia spring, tree
is in full iorce the roots then draw fluid
= 81 l.. - sh,