0^iai&^gsgitatwiTOi>^i!)tc>KJigit^ 



Eeeent announcement has been made by the U. S. Forest Service 

 of the use of the Boucherie process in the preservative treatment 

 of telephone poles for lines under construction in the Tahoe Na- 



HITT KM) l)F 



I'OLE SHOWING 

 I'iri-: CONTAIN 



COVER, I'ACKING AND CLAIIPS FOR MAKING CIIAMI'.ER ON BUTT 

 END OF POLE 



tional Forest in ('alifornia. This 

 process is so different, from those 

 ordinarily employed that descrip- 

 tion of it should prove of in- 

 terest. 



The process takes its name 

 from M. Boucherie, a French- 

 man, who devised it over seventy 

 years ago. Tn brief, his first 

 idea was to introduce the pre- 

 serving liquid into standing trees 

 by the natural movement of the 

 sap. A notch was sawed into a 

 tree near its base and sur- 

 rounded with a special basin 

 containing the liquid. As the 

 sap rose, the liquid was drawn 

 into the vessels and carried up- 

 ward throughout the entire liv- 

 ing portions of the tree. 



A modification of this method 

 consisted in boring some small holes near the foot of the standing 

 tree and inserting tubes connnected with a barrel containing the 

 preservative. The action was much the same as in the other case. 

 These methods were found to be impracticable and the inventor 

 devised the present process that is in use in Germany and France, 

 but has never been accorded a fair trial in this country. 



The present method is applied to green, felled timber from which 

 the bark has not been removed or broken. Instead of the natural 

 sap current of the live tree taking up and distributing the fluid, 

 hydrostatic pressure is used to force the preservative in, displacing 

 and expelling the sap. 



This is accomplished by placing the trunks or poles nearly hori- 

 zontally on a timber framework or cross logs. The liquid, usuall\' 

 one part copper sulphate to one hundred parts water, flows through 

 a pipe or hose from a vat or barrel which is supported on a plat- 

 form from twenty-six to thirty-two feet above the ground. This 

 pipe connects with another running along under the butt ends of 

 the poles and has a T-connection opposite each pole. A shoTt hose 

 fits on this and connects it with a tap or spigot which enters a 

 chamber formed at the butt of the pole by putting on a ring of 

 packing and damping a board cover over it. 



When the cover has been adjusted, the tap is opened allowing the 



—32— 



sulphate of copper to flow from the vat into the chamber at the 

 butt of the pole. The pressure due to the height of the tank above 

 ground is sufficient to drive the liquid through the sapwood and 

 expel most of the sap at the small end of the pole. At first only 

 pure sap issues, but eventually it becomes mixed with the injecting 

 solution. This excess liquid is not allowed to waste but is collected 

 and lumped to the vat to be used again after strengthening by the 

 addition of more of the chemical. 



Wood for treatment by this process should be freshly cut and 

 still full of sap. Stems are topped, branches cut down to short 

 snags, the bark left uninjured, and the injecting done as soon as 

 jinssible. If the butt end has dried it should be cut again before 

 treatment. Logs kept in water and not allowed to dry out retain 

 for a long time the ability of being injected. 



The duration of treatment varies from two to three days. Once 

 the connections are made, however, little attention is needed other 

 than to keep the tank pumped full of preservative and to see that 

 leaks do not occur. Data is lacking to prove the efficiency of the 

 treatment in this country, but the fact that the process is still in 

 use in Europe indicates that it has merit. The Forest Service has 

 been treating western yellow pine, white fir, Douglas fir, sugar pine 

 and others, and expects a life of from twelve to fifteen years as 

 against a probable three ye^rs under natural condition of the 



wood. The process can employ 

 zinc chloride or any aqueous so- 

 lution and is ajiplicable to any 

 species of wood, and as the cost 

 of a plant is very small in com- 

 jiarison with the ordinary plants 

 used in timber treating, it ap- 

 pears worthy of careful con- 

 sideration. It is reported that 

 one company in California 

 ercCteil such a plant this spring. 

 The observation might be 

 jiertinent that the two factors 

 wliich have retar<led the de- 

 velopment of timber preserving 

 processes more than anything 

 else have been first the ex- 

 pense of treatment, and second- 

 ly the uncertainty of complete 

 impregnation of the material to 

 lie treated with the presorva- 



METIIOD OF CONNECTING WITH 

 ING I'UESEKVATIVE 



VIEW OF THE POLES BEING TREATED 



tive fluids. The Boucherie process should overcome these obstacles 

 because it is very inexpensive and because by the very nature of 

 the process comjilete penetration is insured. 



