PRESERVING FENCING POSTS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9070, 10 February 1908, Page 6

PRESERVING FENCING POSTS.

In many parts of the Dominion (savs a writer in the Canterbury Press) fencing posts that will last for a reasonable time in the ground, such as black pine, totara, black birch, are. scarce and dear, "and any method that could be adopted to improve the lasting qualities of other .kinds would be worth knowing. The Wyoming Experiment S hifcion has for sixteen years been carrying on experiments in charring posts to preserve them. It is a well-known fact that a ppst decays quickest just at the surface of the ground. This is beause the moisture and air conditions at the surface, or immediately below, are just right to make bacterial action possible. It must : not be lost sight of that the rotting of posts is entirely a case of the growing of minute plants, whose roots feed upon the wood. Where bacterial or fungus life is not possible no decay occurs. The charring leaves only carbon at the surface of the post and no plant can begin life by putting its roots into a mass of carbon. If a spore falls on such a surface it may sprout, but the sprouted plant will perish, for there is no nourishment in the carbon that the plant can use. The charring must, therefore, he so complete that it. will present a complete barrier between the natural wood fibre of the wood and the spores ]of minute plants outside. At the Wyoming station the experiments above mentioned were begun in 1891, and continued till June of this year. At the beginning eighty pitch pine posts were selected, care being taken to have them all as nearly alike as possible. These were divided into sixteen lots of five posts each. Only the lower ends of the posts were treated, and some of the lots were not treated at all, that they might serve as a check to the others that were. Dipping m crude oil, dipping in tar, .and burning were the principal methods used. The best results were obtained by dipping in crude oil and burning. Tne advantage over dipping in tar and burning was that the oil penetrated the wood more thoroughly than did the tar. This method of treating fencing posts will form an outlet for a portion of the crude oil that will -be available when the petroleum fields that are being tested in the Dominion are furnisl Jg marketable supplies.