474 JOUIJNAL OF FORKSTRV 



The value of the wild rubber sold through the principal port, Haiphong, 

 decreased from $661,420 in 1908 to $5,711 in 1915. This decrease is 

 ascribed in part to wasteful methods of gathering, the withdrawal of 

 German interests since the war began, and the competition of planta- 

 tion rubber. 



B. L. G. 



Rubber in Indo-China. Far Eastern Review, Vol. XIII, December, 1917, p. 

 803. 



Recent experiments with a new and unique 

 Preservation method of retarding the decay of uncreosoted 

 of piling i'l railroad trestles by means of common 



Piling rock-salt have, according to Dr. Hermann von 



Schrenk, given promising results. Shallow 

 wooden boxes are built around the tops of the piles, under the caps, 

 fitting loosely around the piles. These boxes are kept full of rock-salt. 

 The salt is slowly dissolved by rain-.storms and is thus distributed peri- 

 odically over the surface of the pile, retarding the growth of fungi. It 

 is asserted that this method is especially applicable to the preservation 

 of piles with thick sap wood that is especially subject to decay. Tests 

 of the method in the treatment of yellow-pine piles in a railroad trestle, 

 extending over a period of four years, have given favorable results. 



B. L. G. 



Salt Treatment of Timber Piles. Railway Maintenance Engineer, XIV, Janu- 

 ary, 1918, pp. 9-10. 



In a truly remarkable article praying for stand- 

 Wood- ard specifications in wood-pipe design and sug- 



pipe gesting a set of such specifications, J. F. Part- 



Design ridge asserts that redwood should alone be con- 



sidered for permanent pipe lines. Douglas fir 

 and pine are much inferior, for "they are pitchy woods, and it is impos- 

 sible to obtain commercial-run lumber without sap, pitch, pitch seams, 

 pitch-pockets, and knots." Again : "Sap and pitch in the staves mean 

 a short life for the pipe, as deterioration will start first in the sapwood, 

 pitch seams, or pitch-pockets. Pine and Douglas fir cannot be secured 

 commercially without these defects." . . . Another gem culled from 

 this article : "Douglas fir is the pipe that has failed, the oldest pipe hav- 

 ing been built not more than 10 years, the greater number being of 



