Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1858-02-20
SETTING POSTS.

In your paper Of the 9th inst, is an ar
ticle on this subject, the reading of which
started the idea of giving You the benefit
Of my experience on that subject.
About twenty years ago | set split oak
posts for fence around my house. In
or 5 years some of them were rotten at the
ground, while others were sound and good.
On examination I found that the sound
ones were set in the ground top end dosoa:
and the rotten ones were butt end down
Seeing the fact, | sought for the reason,
and the conclusion was this in the tree
there are pores thro' which the sap ascends
in summer. These pores have valyes in
them to retain and hold mp the sap as it
rises. The heated atmosphere draws this
sap from the roots, as it draws moisture
from the ground, the valves holding it mp,
as il rises, like valves 10 pump, until it
Is expended in forming limbs and leaves,
and another seam Or grain on the body of
the tree, In the fall, when re weather
becomes cold,th sap does not return to the
root as has been enormously supposed for the
the little valves prevents it descent; but
il hardens INTO wood, AMI the tree is en
larged. What sap was in the leaves evap-
CRATES rs the leaves dry up.
Nov, as post set in the ground dwW end
down, VIII be kept moist and the water in
the earth is drawn mp by the heated and
expanded atmosphere just as the sap is
drawn up in the tree, and the little valves
hold it. But above ground the pest IS SO
thoroughly dry that the pores and valves
are incapable Of action; consequently,
when the moisture reaches the surface Of
the ground it stops; and as the moist
earth which surrounds the post prevents
the escape of the moisture which is in the
post 1t remains in the wood and rots it of
Wore the air AMI water meet, and alter
na;eIy prevail one over the other,
But post being set top end down,
the valves of course are wrong side up,and
ctnnot retain the moisture which may pen
citrate the wood flom the surrounding
earth, ard therefore settles to the bottom
and irto the ground, and the spe edy vol
does not occur, as in the the other case
Some kinds ofposts, as cedar and locust
do not rot like oak and other kinds Of
wood The reason is this: the quality
Of Tie wood prevents the surrounding mos
ture from penetrating as it does in the
oak, &c When boy, on the Hudson
river. saw an old vessel said to be 10
years old the RIBS were of red cedar, aud
Oh cutting into them, / found the timber
apparently dry, though the timber had
been in the water for that length Of time.
Ihave often, since cut into cedar which was
wet and had long been so, out 81 de but
was dry inside. This settles the point as
10 tie quality of the wood, and its now
adaptability to absorb moisture; and this
in turn shows the reason why that timber
last longer in the ground than other kinds
do
sent my first discovery to the Prairie
Farmer some Is years since; and have
since seen as many as three notices of a
similar discovery by other persons,
whether my philosophy is good or not
know the fact first started, and further, |
know that have had oak posts in the
ground 5 years, and come out sound
Try it, and You will believe the plan a
good one, if you doubt it now. never
saw any benefit derived from burning the
posts. A. BRUNSON.
Prairie du Chen, Feb. 18th, 1853.
The STATE TAx-Mr. Davis, the Treas