89 



Information on the treating of fence posts by the open-tank method 

 is easily procurable from the U. S. Department of Agriculture (Hunt 

 'IG)* and several agricultural stations, such as Iowa (MacDonald '15)t, 

 ■Minnesota, and Louisiana (Mattoon '20 )|, and it is not necessary to go 

 into the details of the process here since so many excellent bulletins have 

 been written on the subject. There is not only a direct saving in the 

 cost of fencing to the farmer by creosoting the non-durable species, but, 

 more important still, if the practice of treating the wood of all inferior 

 species is universally adopted, extending the life of posts to an average 

 of 20 years instead of 10, there will be required in Illinois annually but 

 10,000,000 posts instead of the present 20,000,000 or more. By adopting 

 preservative treatment of fence posts the farmers of Illinois can produce 

 enough fence posts, at the present rate, to supply from the farm wood- 

 lands all of the needs of the farms for fencing. 



THE USE OF SUBSTITUTES CAST IRON, STEEL, AND CEMENT POSTS 



Unless home-treating of fence posts is practiced to a greater extent 

 by Illinois farmers, the unsatisfactory service and frequent renewals 

 resulting from the use of the more numerous inferior species and the 

 increasing prices of durable or treated posts will result in the substi- 

 tution of steel, iron, and concrete posts. Good authorities say that aj> 

 proximately 1,800,000 steel posts alone were sold in Illinois in 1932, to 

 say nothing of concrete and cast-iron posts, and such sales will undoubt- 

 edly be increased by advertising. 



Undoubtedly great advances have been made by manufacturers in 

 the production of substitutes for the wooden post, and the steel or iron 

 post may have certain advantages which are strongly pressed. Among 

 these it is mentioned that time is saved in building fence since the posts 

 are driven into the ground, the bearing-surface being increased by anchor 

 plates ; that the steel posts act as conductors during lightning storms ; 

 that fence-rows can be burned out without damaging the fence ; that 

 frost heave is eliminated; that there is no expense for staples, and that 

 the farm can be given a neater appearance by the use of uniformly shaped 

 posts, — all of which are good selling points for the agent. 



Among the types of metal posts on the market may be mentioned 

 those made of steel, and of galvanized and cast iron, the last two being un- 



• 1916 Hunt. George M. The Preservative Treatment of Farm Timbers. U. S. Dept. 



of AgT, Farmers' Bulletin 714, Washington, D. C. Sept. 21, 1916. 

 t 1915 MaclJonald, G. li. rrcservalivc Tioaliiient of Fence Po.sls. Hulletin 158, Iowa 



Agricultural Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa. August, 1915. 

 t 1920 Mattoon, \V. H. Truating Fence- I'osts on Farms. Circular .N'o. 37. Extension 



Division Louisiana State University in Cooperation with the U. S. Dept. 



Agr. Baton Rouge, Louisiana. March, 1920. 



