The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1911-06-16
PRESERVING POSTS AND POLES
By Prof. G. w. Peavy, Department of Forestry
Oregon Agricultural College.

By Prof. G. w. Peavy, Department of Forestry,
Oregon Agricultural College.
In the greater part of Oregon there
is still such an abundant supply of
timber that little thought has been
given to economy in its use. The ex-
haustion of the timber resources of the
East, together with the rapid increase
in population in the Northwest, are
rapidly producing conditions which will
materially increase the value of all
classes of wood. With the decreasing
supply and increasing demand the
price of the commodity must, of ne
cessity, advance. Consumers of wood
will naturally be forced to make use
of poorer grades of material or else
resort to means of prolonging the life
of the stuff employed.
In line with the idea of increasing
the usefulness of timber by prolong-
ing the period of its utility, the Ore
gon Agricultural college, through it's
department of forestry. his installed a
plant for the preservative treatment
of fence posts and other farm timbers
which are used in contact with the
ground. The equipment consists of
two galvanized iron tanks, one cylin-
drical in form, feet in diameter and
81 feet high, and the other rectangu-
lar in form, 8 feet vide, 3 feet high
and 8 feet long. The smaller tank is
provided with series of steam coils
of inch pipe in the bottom. This is
the hot bath tank. The other is the
cold bath tank. The preservative
used is commercial creosote.
All timbers treated are peeled and
thoroughly seasoned before the pre-
servative is applied. Fence posts, for
example, are placed in the hot bath
tank, with the temperature of the
creosote raised to 215 degrees Fahren-
heit and allowed to remain about five
hours. The fluid is kept to a level
which reaches just above the point
where the post sets even with the sur
face of the ground. At the compile
tion of the hot bath the posts are
placed in the cooling tank for two or
three hours. In this treatment the
average fence post should absorb
about two quarts of the preservative.
To make the reason for the applica-
tion of the preservative clear, it
should be understood that decay is due
to the action of low forms of plant
life known as bacteria and fungi. Fa.
miliar examples of fungi are the toad
stools, which grow on damp, rotter
logs, and the punks or brackets which
are seen on the trunks of trees in the
woods. These ouside forms, however
are not the cause of the decay. They
are the fruiting bodies which beal
immense numbers of spores-dust-likt
particles corresponding to the seeds Of
higher plants. These spores fine
lodgment in dead portions of tree OF
in down timber, and when moisture
conditions are right begin to grow.
The growth of the fungus in the inter
ior of the wood consists of long, thin,
film-like white threads, which, by re-
peated branchings, eventually pene-
trate the entire structure of the wood.
So much OF the wood fiber is eaten
away or changed in composition that
it's strength is diminished. The tex
ture becomes brittle and disconnected,
and the wood is commonly spoken of
as "rotten."
The simplest way of prolonging the
life of timber which is exposed to the
attacks of fungi is through reducing
the amount of moisture in the wood.
1t is common knowledge that green
fence posts decay quickly. This is
due to the fact that moisture condi-
tions favor the action of the fungi.
Hence, as matter of economy, posts
and poles should never be placed in
the ground unless they are thoroughly
seasoned. However, since seasoned
wood gradually absorbs moisture from
the soil, some means of preventing
fungus action on moist wood is desir-
able. That is the Office performed by
the liquid used in timber treating. II
poisons the food supply of the bacteria
and fungi which produce decay.
Experts in the forest service esti'
mate the average life of all fence
posts used in the United States to be
about eight years. With proper pre-
] servative treatment this life may bo
increased by fourteen years, giving {
: total service of twenty-five years fol
/ the treated posts. In other words, q
J treated post will last nearly three
; times as long as an untreated one
/ Setting a well-treated post saves thu
: cost of setting three untreated ones a
= we'll as the price of two posts. Thi
, involves business proposition whicl
should be considered by the hopgrow
2 ers and ranchers of the state.