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Show PB0Loi"om THE UFE OF FEOE POSTS Bj .1. A. rcrgiUjon. j i Tho most effective method of preserving pre-serving fence posts 1b lu thoroughly ' impregnate the outer layers of tho vood with some substance that will 1 poison the wood and deprive the . fungus plant, which destroys the pots. of its food. Man substances have been used for this purpose, but the cheapest and , most effective Is creosote, or dead oil of coal tar, formed as a by-product in Hip manufacture of coal gas. It Is not only poisonous to the fungus plant, bu' being an oil. It also tends to exclude ex-clude moisture from the wood The treatment Is best carried out bv the so-called "open tank method " JThoroughlv seasoned posts arc heated for several" hours In. hot creosote and then allowed to cool down In cold creosote. When the posts are heated In hot creosote the high temperature causes th air and water in tho wood to expand ex-pand so that a portion of this air and water in forced out. When tho posts are then placed In cold creosote, the air and water left In the wood contract, con-tract, forming a partial vacuum: and the creosote Is forced Into the wood j by atmospheric pressure, to tako the I place of the air and water that ha-c Iiaati forced out. This forms a shell of creosotcd i wood from one-eighth an inch to . Lwo Inches in thickness around the : pos that effectively excludes moisture urd prevents thi entrance of fungi. J The simplest form of treating tank would consist of iron tank four feet high and about three rect in diameter, set up over a brick fireplace with a stove pipe smoko stack Such ( an outfit would cost about J12 or ?15- Often an old Iron boiler can be found that will answer tho purpose. A galvanized tank has usually too thin a bottom to sot up over an open fire. Such a tank, however, can be utilized and heated by means of a three-luch U lube. In this cade, since the creosote creo-sote is very inflammable, it should be I shielded from the open fire. In either , case a false bottom should be placed; In the tank for the posts to rest upon, j Creosote costs from fifteen to twenty J cents a gallon In fifty gallon barrels, tho cost varying with the location, transportation facilities, etc- A gallon of crcosoto should treat three or four posts or more, depending upon the kind of wood, some woods absorbing tho creosote more readily than othors. To a fcrmcr who furnishes his own labor, the cost should not be above six or eight cents a post. The advantage of a preservative treatment lies in the fact that It permits per-mits the utilization of material for fence posts from the woodlot. or of material that can be purchased at a low price, which ordinarily could not bo used for this pin pose. Such posts, e-en with the cost of treatmont added, wU amount to less than the original cr-t of a durable post. As to length oCHfc. a woll creosoted post of peril per-il ble wood will outlast by' many years the m3t durablo fenco post. Posts that ordinarily last but three or four years in the ground can t? made to last over twenty years by preserving tho "wood from decay. . |