Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1908-05-26

MONEY SAVED AND LESS MATERIAL
NEEDED.

It IL estimated that fence post, which
under ordinary circumstances will last
for perhaps two years, will, II given pre-
sentative treatment costing about 10
cents, last eighteen years. The service
of other timbers, such as railroad ties,
telephone poles, and mine props, can be
doubled and often trebled by inexpen-
sive preservative treatment. To-day,
when the cost of wood is big item to
every farmer, every stockman, every
railroad manager-to everyone. In fact,
who must use timber where it Is likely
to decay-this is Q fact which should be
carefully considered. i
1t is easy to see that II the length OF
time timbers can be used Is doubled,
only half as much timber will be requir-
ed as before and only one-half as much
money will need to be spent in the pur-
chase of timber. Moreover, many
woods which were for long time consid.
cred almost worthless can be treated and
made to last as long as the scarcer and
more expensive kinds.
OF the actual saving in dollars and
cents through preservative treatment,
fence post such as was mentioned at the
beginning might serve as one example.
The post is of loblolly pine, and costs,
untreated, about cents, or, including
the cost of setting, IA cents. 1t lasts
about two years. Compromising interest
at per cent, the annual charge OF such
post is 1853 cents; that is, it costs 1853
cents a 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 "a cents, which
compounded at per cent, gives An an
nual charge of 2.04 cents. Thus the
saving due to treatment is $40 cents
year. Assuming that there are 200 posts
per mile, there Is a saving each year for
every mile of fence of a sum equivalent
to the interest on $4,000.
In the same way preservative treat
ment will increase the length of life of q
loblolly pine railroad tie from five years
to twelve years and will reduce the an
nual charge from 1852 cents to 9.4S
cents, which amounts to saving of
$3.50 per mile.
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
preventative treatment 1t can be pro-
louged by many times this figure. Tele-
phone and telegraph 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 treat
ment of their butts, be made to last
twenty or twenty FIVE years. Sap shin
giles, which are almost valueless in their
natural state, can easily be treated and
made to outlast even painted shingles of
the most decay-resistaut woods. Thou
sands of dollars are lost every year by
the so-called "bluing" Of freshly sawed
sapwood lnmber. This can be prevented
by proper treatment, and at cost so
small as to put it within 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 prepare
ton be made to take the place Of the
high-grade long-leaf pine for many pur.
poses. Black and tupelo gums and
other little-used woods have new and
increasing importance because of the
possibility of preserving them from de-
cay 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 treat
ment may help to replace the fast d.
minishing white oak and cedar. In the
states of the Mississippi Valley the
pressing fence post problem may bt
/ rraotly raliouad nv troo tip0 auch anacias
as cottonwood, willow and blackberry.
Circular 139 of the Forest Service, "a
Primer of Wood Preservation" tells In
simple terms what decay is and how II
can be retarded, describes briefly certain
representatives and processes, gives exam
pies 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. G.