The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1907-10-09
Ideal Wood PdyemeEtS Made
From Gum Wood.

The black and tupelo gum trees.
which find their ideal home in the
Dismal Swamp and other marshy
places of the South Atlantic and
Gulf states, will probably play an
important part in solving the
street pavement problem which
veXes the officers of every munich
pality. Experts who have expert
mented with the timber of this
tree, which hitherto has been con-
sidered almost worthless, say that
it makes an ideal paving block
when properly preserved.
A representative of large
wood-preserving company of New
York, which makes a speciality of
the manufacture Of street paving
blocks, has just left Washington
after conference with officers of
the Forest Service regarding meth =
DDS of wood preservation. His
company is now dealing almost eX-
clusively in black and tupelo gum
andshe is highly elated with the
experiments which have b n
made.
Wood is now considered the
strongest kind of a factor among
the materials from which the ideal
street pavement of the future will
be manufactured. 1t is practically
noiseless, and this quality is very
desirable in large cities where there
is much traffic. When properly
preserved and laid. the best wood
pavements are said to resist wear
and tear as well as any other ma
terial now in use.
Wood received IA bad reputation
as paving block ip this country
when it was laid in various cities a
number of years ago. 1t failed
because Americans at that time
knew practically nothing about
wood preservation for pawn Q
woods, laying the wooden blocks
Just as they were sawed. OF
course, wear, tear and weather
soon made the pavement almost
unfit for use. Foreign nations
first made successful experiments
in the preservation of wood used
for paving, and now Uncle sam
has also learned some very import
ant things about the manufacture
of wooden paving blocks and in
some respects has gone the Euro
pean manufacturers one or two
points better.
The Company, whose represent
alive has been in Washington con-
ferring on those matters of wood
preservation, has just completed IA
three-cylinder treatment plant at
Norfolk, Virginia, where the wood
will be impregnated with creosote
and rosin by the pressure cylinder
methods. The natural touehness
of the wood makes it wear well.
and the chemicals forced into the
fibre will render it immune from
decay for many years.
The turning of black and tupelo
gum to account, on SO large a
scale, is matter of Importance in
connection with the waning timber
supply. Lumbermen have always
considered it an inferior wood.
Except for special uses. such as
mauls, mallets, boards for wagon
and cast beds, and for other pur-
poses where wood is wanted
which will not split, black gum has
been rejected by farmers and lum-
bermen. 1t grows over a tolerably
wide region, and is abundant on
the low, marshy lands near the
coast of the Southern states. 1t
finds it's ideal home in the Dismal
Swamps, where other woods, es-
pecially cypress, once grew in |
great abundance.
Severe tests have shown that
black and tupelO gum, when given
a proper preventative treatment,
is an excellent material for street
paving. The blocks are cut to
stand on end about three inches
thich, four inches wide, and about
eight inches high. The wood is
not very hard, but its toughness
gives it superior wearing qualities.
Now that the City Council is
considering new pavements, we