Connecticut western news., 1908-04-30
SOME METHODS OF
 PRESERVING WOOD
DECAY STARTS ON THE OUTSIDE.
Cheap Wood May be Made to Last as Long as Some ofthe More Expen SiVe Kinds.
Special Correspondence of The News

The cost of wood is to-day big item to everyone. who must use timber where it is likely to decay. How to reduce the expense of timbers which must con- stantly be replaced has become a vital problem. The kinds of timber used for these purposes are becoming scarcer and scarcer and their prices higher and higher. Long misuse of the forest has brought it's sure result. Even with the most efficient management it would be long time before the supply of the best timbers would increase ill quantity or decrease in price.
 There are two ways ill which the s1t- uation may be met. One is to prolong the life of the forest by wise use; the other is to prolong the life of timbers in service by treating them with some preservative.
 It is easy to see that if the length of time timbers can be used IS doubled, only half as much timber will be re- quired as before and only one-half as much money will need to be spent in the purchase of timber. This is the chief gain in treating wood with preser- vatives Yet there is another and i'm portant one. Many woods, which for 8 long time were considered almost worth less, can be treated and made to last as long as the scarcer and more expensive kinds. This of course means that the consumer will have the choice of a much greater number of woods than he had before and at less cost. r
 Wood preservation, then, prolongs the life of rimbers in use, reduces their cost, and gives to the user wider choice of woods than ever before.
 Methods of preservation must be varied for different localities and differ ent kinds of wood.
 HOW DECAY CAN BE RETARDED.
 The simplest way of, prolonging the life of timber exposed. to the attacks of wood destroying fungi is to reduce the moisture content of the wood. The amount of water in green timber varies according to the part of the tree from which the wood is cut. The outer lay CTS of the trunk are composed of sap wood, the cells of which contain large amounts of organic substances which serve excellently as food for the fungi. large amount of water. It is the DOT tion of the tree therefore, most suscepti- ble to attacks from fungi. Heartwo ood can usually be distinguished from sap wood by it's darker or more reddish color contains, on the other hand, much less moisture It is therefore more durable than sapwood. But because its pores are stopped up by gums and resins it dries out much less rapidly than the more porous sapwood. In almost every case as much care should be taken thoroughly to dry out the heartwood as in the case of the moister sapwood.
 By piling the timber so as to permit free access of air all around it the moisture content of timbers of certain sizes can be reduced to about 15 or IS per cent.
 The strength of partially seasoned timber, other things being equal, in creases as the amount of moisture it contains decreases. Thoroughly seasoned timber of small sizes is sometimes three or even four times as strong as the same timber, when green, Moreover, during the process of drying out, important but little understood changes take place in klo 1c by which the wood is not only rendered less attractive to fungi, but is made more permeable and so better prepared for preservative treatment. All timber should be thoroughly seasoned before being exposed to decay.
 An exterior coating secured by dipping 6 post in 6 thin solution of cement or other material that will harden on the post is not an effective protection, be- cause in shrinking or swelling the wood forms cracks through which decay enters.
 BY CHEMICAL APPRECIATION.
 By far the best method of checking the growth of fungi, however, is to de- prive them of food. This can be done by injecting poisonous substances into the timber and so changing the organic matter from foods suitable for fungi in to powerful fungicides. It is mistake to suppose that the germs of decay are inherent in the wood, and only need an opportunity for development to bring about it's destruction. Several processes for the preservation of wood have been