CREOSOTING TIMBER FOR ESTATE PURPOSES. 95 



are creosoted in exactly the same manner as stobs. It is thns 

 seen that the process acts in a threefold manner, and it appears 

 to have decided advantages over any system where pressure is 

 used with either cold or heated oil; while in this process, the heat 

 being applied while the wood is under oil, the quality is in no 

 way deteriorated, but is in many cases improved. 



The crucial point is, of course, the durability of the timber 

 creosoted in this way. Beech stobs, 4| feet x 3 inches x 3 inches, 

 have been examined by the writer and others after being in use 

 for ten years, and, more recently, after fifteen years, when they 

 were found to be in an almost perfect state of preservation. 

 Similar stobs not creosoted are worthless in two years. In 

 removing, some time ago, a fence erected in 1895 with creosoted 

 wood, some very good examples of the value of the process were 

 seen. Some stobs of lime wood, which were not thoroughly 

 impregnated, but had only been in contact with the creosote on 

 one side, were found to be completely decayed, with the exception 

 of the thin portion creosoted. Scots pine showed the same thing. 

 But spruce and Scots pine paling was practically as good as 

 when it was erected seven years previously. 



The cost also determines, to a great extent, the success of the 

 process, and with creosote at 2|d. per gallon, assuming that there 

 is a uniform absorption of one gallon per cubic foot of wood, the 

 cost for oil alone amounts to about one penny per stob of the size 

 stated above, and to somewhat under 9d. per 100 lineal feet of 

 paling rails, 4 inches x 1 inch. In practice it is found that the 

 absorption is not unifoi-m, but is dependent on the quality and 

 class of the wood; but the average cost works out at l^d. per 

 stob and Is. 3d. per 100 feet of paling, including the whole 

 expense of fuel, labour, and plant. 



The writer has confined himself to fencing material, though the 

 process is equally applicable to timber to be used for hay and 

 other sheds connected with agricultural properties. That large 

 quantities of inferior timber could be profitably utilised by taking 

 advantage of this process there is no question ; it would open a 

 market for thinnings that are of little value as pitwood, in com- 

 petition with the superior article imported in large quantities 

 from abroad. 



Timber of good quality is yearly becoming scarcer at home, and 

 as the forest-covered area recedes from the sea-coasc of exporting 

 countries, it must naturally become dearer. It therefore behoves 



