The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1908-03-06
DECAY in WOOD PREVENTED.
Money Saved and Less Material
Needed.

tvVGONOs
1t is estimated that fence post. which
under ordinary circumstances will last for
perhaps two years, will, if given pre-
servative treatment costing about 10 cents.
last eighteen years. The service of other
tin,bers, such as railroad ties, telephone
poles, and mine props, can be doubled and
often trebled by Inexpensive preservative
treatment. To-day, when the cost Of
wood is a big item to every farmer, every
stock man, every railroad manager-to
everyone, in fact, who must use timber
where it is likely 10 decay-this is fact
which should be carefully considered.
1t is easy to see that if the length of
time tiuibers can be used is doubled, only
half as much timber will be required as
before and only one halfas much money
will need TO be spent in the purchase of
timber. Moreover, many woods which
were for long time considered almost
worthless can be treated and made 10 last
as long as the scarcer and more expensive
kinds
OF the actual saving in dollars and
cents through preservative treatment, "a
fence post such as was mentioned at the
beginning might serve as one example
The post is of loblolly pine, and costs,
untreated. about Scents, or, including
the cost of setting, "a cents. 1t lasts
about two years. Compromising interest
at per cent, the annual charge of such
post IS 753 cents; that is, it costs 7.53
cents year to keep the post in service.
Preservative treatment costing 10 cents
will increase its length of life to about
eighteen years. In this case the total
cost of the post. set, is 20 cents, which
compounded at S per cent, gives an an
nual charge Of Z. Oh cents Thus the saw
ing due to treatment is 4o cents year.
Assuming that there are 200 posts per
mile, there is a saving each year for every
mile of fence Of SUN equivalent to the
interest on $2I9 60.
1t is estimated that 10000 acres are
required each year to grow timber for the
anthracite coal mines alone. The average
life of an untreated mine prop is not more
than three years. BY proper preseryative
treatment it can be prolonged by many
times this figure. Telephone and tele-
graph poles, which in ten or twelve years.
or even less, decay so.badly at the ground
line that they have to be removed, can,
by simple treatment of their butts, be
made to last twenty or twenty FIVE years.
Sap shingles. which are almost valueless
in their natural state. can easily be
treated and made to outlast even painted
shingles of the most decay-resistant
woods. Thousands of dollars are lost
every year by the so-called "bluing" of
freshly sawed sapwood lumber This can
be prevented by proper treatment. and at
a cost so small as to put it within the
reach of the smallest operator.
In the South the cheap and abundant
loblolly pine, one of the easiest of all
woods to treat. can by proper preparation
be made to take the place of the high
grade lougleaf pine for many purposes.
Black and tupelo gums and other little
used woods have a new and increasing
importance because Of the possibility of
preserving them from decay at small cost.
In the Northeastern and Lake States are
tamarack. hemlock. beech. birch, and
maple, and the red and black oaks, all of
which by proper treatment may help to
replace the fast diminishing white oak
and cedar III the States of the Missis-
sippi Valley the pressing fence-post
problem may be greatly relieved by treat
ing such species as cottonwood, willow.
and blackberry.
Circular 1879 of the Forest Service. IA
Primer of Wood Preservation" tells in
simple terms what decay is and how it
can be retarded, describes briefly certain
preservatives and processes. gives ex-
amples of the saving in dollars and cents
and tells. what wood preservation can do
in the future The circular can be had
free upon application to the Forester,
Forest Service, Washington, D c.