Worm-proof Timber.—To restore old Apple Trees, 309 
rally found impregnated.’”’ These materials are made to coagu- 
late and cement together by the application of heat, so as to form 
large cakes, capable of being broken into lumps of such sizes as 
may be found convenient for the purpose of fuel. 
WORM-PROOF TIMBER. . 
What has been so long and so ardently sought for by ship- 
builders, we believe to be now nearly if not wholly attained. We 
allude to the discovery of timber which will secure a ship’s bot- 
tom against the terrible invasion of the worm, so universally de- 
structive. 
This discovery was accidentally made by Captain Thomas 
Shields, during his residence at the bay of St. Louis. He found 
that a particular stake, used for fastening a boat, had remained 
perfectly good and staunch for a year; whereas others had to be 
replaced every two or three months, being destroyed by the 
worm. Onexamination, this stake proved to be of Sweet Guin, 
a timber usually considered of no value. Captain S, deciding to 
make a full and fair experiment, procured a small tree of the sweet 
gum, hewed it down until it squared nine inches, and then had 
it staked in three feet water, affording every opportunity to the 
worm. ‘This sweet gum stick remained thus exposed for four 
years ; when on examination it was found perfectly free from 
moss, barnacle, and all other excrescence; and on hewing it down 
again an inch or more, no traces of the worm were to be seen, 
except three or four very small punctures of inconsiderable depth. 
Captain Shields communicated these facts to Commodore Pat- 
terson some years ago. The Commodore declared his intention of 
making a further experiment in the Lake Barataria. Whether this 
was done, or what was the result, we know not; but we hope the 
experiment, if made, was as satisfactory as that at Bay St. Louis. 
The Sweet Gum [Liquidambar styraciflua Linn.] is in great 
abundance on the Alabama, and the lakes and bays between Pen- 
sacola and New-Orleans—it is of prodigious girth and towering 
tallness—frequently exhibiting a smooth stem of 50 or 60 feet, 
and remarkably straight. It can be sawed into planks of al- 
most any size, but it will not split—on which account it is uni- 
versally rejected as useless. 
Is it not worth the experiment? Cut this timber into sheath- 
ing plank, of half inch or less, and try it on some of our lake 
craft, Its flexibility is such, that a thin plank may be bent and 
shaped almost as one pleases.—The Floridian, March 10. 
TO RESTORE OLD APPLE TREES. 
A gentleman at Littlebury in Essex, having in his orchard 
many old supposed worn-out apple trees, which produced fruit 
scarcely 
