Show THE SEASONING AND TIVE TREATMENT OF AR AE POLES the immense demand for telegraph and telephone poles is one of the heavy drains upon the forests the cost of af maintaining lines Is high and it is getting to be more and more a practice to give poles some sort of preservative treatment in order to check decay and get t the e fullest service out of them or northern white cedar is well suited tor for the production of poles it grows naturally in suitable form and Is strong light in weight and durable in tackit combines the qualities most demanded moreover it takes preservatives serva tives very well unfortunately arborvitae is not very plentiful and it grows so slowly that it takes a couple of centuries for it to reach serviceable size in the last dozen years its pries price hairis has risen per cent there are the best of reasons therefore for using the present supply as carefully as possible our eat great grandchildren will have come and gone before the seeds now sprouting will be trees ready to cut poles are most easily cut and hauled in late fall and winter when spring comes they are ready for seasoning which is done with most advantage during spring and early summer it if peeled and arranged for drying in a single layer they will be ready for treat treatment mentin in june A fairly good treatment with either cither creosote or can tie be given by applying the oils warm with a 0 brush two coats of can be applied for a distance of G feet beginning begin nini 2 beet feet from the butt for 45 cents per pole A similar treatment with creosote can be given for 12 cents since the average life of an untreated arb orvit e pole Is twelve years and its cost set in the line 9 the brush bensh treatment would wont have to add only one year and the creosote blush treatment only tour four months to the life ot of a pole in order to pay for the additional expense by means of the open tank treatment with creosote a greater additional length of service can be secured so BO that this method is advisable wherever of poles are be ing prepare bedr dr tor for use the ment consists of a sheet lion iron tank about 8 feet long 5 fact tc ct wide arth and 8 feet feel with steam coll or a fireplace beneath A small derrick or pin polo pole may be used to hoist and conver the poles into the tank the poles should be immersed immerse d 7 feet in the creosote heated to about 0 2 0 deg F and kept there for about elx hours the heat bent can then he be shut off and the oil allowed to cool several poles can be treated at once and the cost will be from 1 to per pole circular of the forest service gives a description of experiments in seasoning and treating poles in the upper peninsula of michigan together with a tabulation and discussion of the results this publication li can be had upon application to the forester at washl washington agton |