The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-12-02

mediate protection l inclosed the door-
ward and garden with a temporary fence,
and having a quantity of green pine Jolst,
four by four inches, sawed them into post
lengths, and set them; while doing whlcn
1 had occasion to call on a neighbor, and
found him setting the third set OF posts
around his door-yard. In a back corner
he had erected a permanent leach-tuD
soon after his first inclosing the yard. tie
called my attention to the condition OF
those posts contiguous to said ash-tup'
which were of the first setting, fourteen
years previous. On examining as lar as
the ashes had reached when thrown from
the tub the posts were as sound as when
first set, except from a half to an inch
deep at the top of the ground was a ring
of loose. fbrous texture. h clrcum-
stance induced me to test the virtue OF
ashes on my green pine posts on one side
of my Enclosure. After well firmlng the
bottom, which is important, l left out SIX
inches of dirt at the top, which was filled
with ashes. Shortly after this l sold the
! property and moved away. Five years
after setting the fence l had an oppor-
tunity of seeing it. Three sides were
| proppcd up and leaning to all points OF
the compass the fourth side, which was
| ashed, stood quite in line without props.
In 1867, twenty-five years after building
| the house, | had another opportunity to
| visit the place; and, anxious to know the
result of my sailed underpinnIng, went
| into the cellar with the occupant OF the
! house, and, with a Ratchet, hacked into
| the blocks. We found them perfectly
| sound and almost as hard as lignum-vlt9.
A short time since | wrote to the gentle
man who made the examination with me,
| requesting him to let me know their pres
ent condition; his reply, dated Feb. /,
! 1875, said: "By your request | have eH-
| amined the blocks you referred to and
find them as sound as when we examined
them some years ago" Having stood
| thirty years, and still sound, l would ask
when we may expect them to decay? No
doubt net as durable as stone, the salt,
TO which we must attribute their durabil-
itv thus far, must some time lose its ef-
feet. But will it not pay we'll to set cheap
outbuildings on blocks treated as above
! described, especially where stones are
scarce and consequently high? Were l
to build an expensive one, unless the
| posts were of red cedar, and nearly all red,
too, | would bore holes in each post half
an inch in diameter, nearly through
them, at the place that is called between
wind and water when set, and fill them
with salt, moisten it and plug them up,
also apply some ashes around them.
| | might 60 on and enumeratc several IN
stances which have come to my knowledge
of the preservative effect Of salt and ashes
on wood. Some may ask, if ashes are
such a preservative of wood why do leach
tubs fall to pieces? | will answer by say
ing, do We not know those articles condu-
Give to health become injurious when
taken in too great quantities: Physicians
tell us they prescribe alkalies often with
decided benefit, but an overdose would be
highly injurious; thus, too much caus'
ITCHY of ashes destroys the texture OF
wood, and y moderate quantity preserves
it.-"K. F.,"m n. 7. Tribune.
SAM SLICK records Of Abernethy that the