87 



Number of Posts of Diffeuf.kt Species Required Annually per 100 Acres 

 (Based on 6.26 posts per acre, or 626 per 100 acres) 



Osage orange 15 to 16 



Mulberry 31 



Black locust 31 



Catalpa 42 



Cedar, untreated 42 



Burr oak untreated 50 



White oak, old growth untreated 63 



Walnut 56 



Treated posts of inferior woods — 20 years basis 31 



On basis of 30 years 21 



The figure of 25 years given by the Forest Service is much too low 

 for this species, as evidenced by testimony on the actual life of posts. It 

 probably represents, not the full life of the posts but the life since they 

 were set out. This is the case with many of the Illinois replies. 



It is evident, then, that in hedge posts we have material which, size 

 for size, will give twice the length of service of any known wood, and 

 does this without the additional expense of preservative treatment. 



In other respects the results obtained from Illinois sources agree 

 closely with the accepted standards, except in the case of some of the 

 less durable species where insufficient evidence was collected. Here the 

 standard adopted agrees closely with that of the Forest Service. The 

 indicated durability of the red oak group is shortened to 5 years. None 

 of these species should ever be used as permanent posts without treatment. 



These standards of durability apply to the average post-material as 

 taken from the wood-lot during the past 20 to 30 years. But with the 

 exhaustion of the virgin stand, posts are being taken to much greater 

 degree from saplings, and round posts substituted for split posts of such 

 species as white oak. With the increased rate of growth of saplings on 

 cut-over lands comes a greater percentage of sapwood, which decays 

 more rapidly than heartwood and shortens the average life of these posts. 



FUTURE SUPPLY AND PRICE OF WOODEN FENCE POSTS 



Data obtained from questionnaires sent out to farmers indicate 

 that in spite of depletion the woodlands of the state are still supplying 

 nearly 50 per cent of the fence posts needed annually on farius for re- 

 placements, or a total of 10,031,800 posts. Under existing conditions 

 a shortage of post timber has already developed and will increase in 

 severity. This shortage is being made up in part by importations of 

 white cedar posts from the Lake states, creosoted yellow-pine posts from 

 the south, and locust and red cedar posts from Kentucky and Tennessee. 



