The daily sentinel., 1909-04-02
INTERESTING REASONS FOR
THE DECAY OF WOOD
snacial ia The Sentinel /

Especial to The Sentinel
!. Denver. Mar 29.-Piles driv- +
4. en- by the hut dwellers of the !.
i. Baltic centuries ago are as +
J. sound today as when first j.
r placed. The wooden collins in +
4. which the Egyptians buried !
r their dead are still preserved in =
= perfect condition after thou !.
4. sands of years of service. +
The longevity of timber under
these two extremes OF climate and
moisture conditions has naturally
made people ask, What causes wood
decay? The answer is, Fungi and
bacteria, low forms of plant life that
live in the wood and draw their nour-
ishment from it. The little organ
isms are so small that a microscope is
required to see them, yet their work
results in the destruction OF billions
of feet of timber each year and the
railroad with its cross tie bill run
ming up into seven figures and the
farmer who spends a hundred or SO
OF dollars a year for fence posts alike
are drawing upon the knowledge OF
experts in all parts of the world in
efforts to learn the most economical
and most satisfactory method OF pre-
serving wood against the inroads of
decay In studying the means of pre-
venting decay wood-preserving eX-
perts have learned many things about
Che obnoxious fungi which sap the
life of timber.
The small organisms can grow
either in light or in total darkness;
but all of them require requisite
amounts of air, food, moisture and
heat. If one or more of these essen |
tiaI requirements is lacking, they
cannot live. and the decay of timber
will not take place. Wood constantly |
submerged in water never rots, sim |
ply because there is an insufficient |
supply of air. This condition ac-
counts for the soundness of the old /
Baltic piles. On the other hand, If
wood can be kept air-dry, it will not |
decay because there will then be too
little moisture. The timber used by
the Egyptians will last indefinitely |
so long as IL is bone-dry.
There are a great many cases. how
ever where IL is impossible to keepl
wood submerged in water or in an
absolutely air-dry condition. In fact,
"A large percentage of the timber
which is used is exposed to the
weather and is subjected to decay |
simply because it contains enough |
air and enough water for the decom-
posing organisms to get a foothold. |
Decay is most serious where the at
mosphere is damp and warm, because
these conditions are most favorable |
for its development In the coal
mines of Pennsylvania timber decays
in two or three years because the
is warm and constant |
and the air is damp. And in the |
south, the warm. humid atmosphere
often causes the timber to rapidly de-
Decay may be prevented by two
general methods-by treating the |
wood with antiseptics, thus poison
ing the food supply of the organisms |
which cause decay; and by treating |
it with oils which render it water J
proof. a combination of these two |
methods is most commonly used, as
when wood is treated with creosote
which fills up the pores in the TIM
ber and keeps out water and is also
a powerful antiseptic.
The United States government con-
siders the Investigations of the pre-
servative treatment of timber of such
importance that the business of one
group of men in the forest service is
given over entirely to the work of
experiments in cooperation with the
railroad companies and individuals in
prolonging the life of railroad ties,
mine props. bridge timbers, fence
posts and transmission poles. Advice
and practical assistance is furnished
all who request this advice of the
district forester at Denver. The
lengtheniDg of life of timber means
the saving of thousands of dollars
annually through doing away with
the heavy expense of labor and cost
OF material for renewals.