Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1909-07-16
TO PRESERVE FENCE POSTS
Government Department of For
estry Gives Instructions of
Interest to Farmers

Every farmer is familiar with
the rotting of his fence posts al
the surface of the ground. The
labor of replacing them and how
to secure new and durable posts
are sources Of constant annoyance
and expense. Even the more dur.
able woods, such as chestnut
white oak and cedar, decay in
eight or ten years. 1t is true that
there are a few kinds of wood in
the United States, such as locust
and osage-orange, which give
much longer service, but their
supply, never very large, is rapid
lily becoming exhausted, and the
farmer must now look to some
other source for his posts. Per
haps directly on his farm there
may be patch of woods which
includes such trees as black oak,
beech, maple or pine, and cotton
woods and willows may grow
along the banks of his streams.
These are trees which heretofore
have been thought of little or no
use for posts, because of the
Irapidity with which they are at
tackled by decay. In their natural
condition, they will rot in two or
three years-too soon to pay for
the labor Of setting them. The
Forest Service in it's study of pro-
longing the life of fence posts has
found cheap and simple methods
of preserving them in a sound
condition for an indefinite time,
even though they are the poorest
and naturally least durable woods.
Decay is not simple process
like the crumbling of stone or the
rusting Of iron. 1t is caused by
low forms of plant life which
thoroughly permeate the wood,
discolor it and cause it to become
disconnected and rotten" To
preserve the timber in a thorough
ly sound condition, it is only
necessary to render the wood unfit
for the growth of these organisms.
This is done by injecting into it
substances poisonous to plant life.
One of the most widely used
preservatives is creosote, one of
the by-products of coal tar. When
lit is injected into the wood, de-
cay will be retarded indefinitely
and an old-feld pine or a cotton
wood fence post when properly
treated will easily give a life of
twenty years or longer. Such a
preservative treatment costs about
ten cents per post. The creosote
can be applied by painting the
wood with brush or dipping it
into the liquid, but much better
results will be obtained if it is
actually injected into the wood
instead of merely coating the out
side. If the "brush" method, or
painting, is used, the creosote
should be applied at temperature
of about $50 degrees f. Two
coats should be given at least
twenty-four hours apart. If the
posts are dipped directly into the
preservative, the creosote should
be heated to about the same tenn
perature. The best results of all
can be obtained by first heating
the posts in a bath of hot creosote
and then either transferring them
quickly to a bath of creosote at a
lower temperature, or else shut
ting off the heat and allowing the
,osts to remain in the oil as it cools
By such a method, the sapwood
will become thoroughly permeat-
ed with the creosote. Full details
and specific instructions for the
treatment Of different kinds of
posts may be obtained by applica-
ton to the Forester, Washington,
d. G.