OF FARM TIMBERS 



home use is to use the best creosote he can get. This may 

 mean buying it as creosote or under some trade name, but 

 the result is the same, provided it has the guarantee of a 

 responsible manufacturer that the oil is derived wholly from 

 coal tar. 



In the matter of cost, it is a safe rule to question a 

 charge of more than 50 cents per gallon in barrel lots, and in 

 most regions this is more than it should be necessary to pay. 

 Commercial grades of crude creosote should not cost in bar- 

 rels over 25 cents per gallon; while special grades of creosote 

 for brush and open tank treatment from which the lighter 

 oils and the salts which crystallize in cool weather have been 

 eliminated, should be obtained for not over 30 to 45 cents per 

 gallon, and in some cases less. Freight rates add materially 

 to the original cost, so that in regions remote from produc- 

 ing centers, a large percentage of the delivered cost is repre- 

 sented by transportation charges. The only opportunity the 

 small consumer would have to obtain good creosote under 

 20 cents per gallon would be if he was located near enough 

 to a commercial plant to obtain barrels of oil direct, without 

 the cost of transportation and handling. 



PREPARING THE TIMBER FOR TREATMENT. 



Timber should be thoroughly air seasoned before treat- 

 ment. Care should be taken to remove every bit of bark 

 from the posts or other round timber to be treated, as its 

 presence retards and sometimes entirely prevents the 

 penetration of the oil. The seasoning is best accomplished 

 by piling the timber in open piles, raised off the ground, in 

 such a way that the air can circulate freely around every 

 piece. Timber should never be left on the ground to season. 



METHODS OF TREATMENT. 



The Open Tank Process consists of heating the wood 

 in the preservative for one or more hours, at a temperature 

 of about 200 degrees Fahrenheit. It is then quickly trans- 

 ferred to a tank of oil having the temperature of the air and 

 left for one or more hours. In the hot bath the wood is 

 heated and the air and moisture in it expanded. When it 

 is plunged into the cool oil, the air and moisture contract 

 and draw the oil into the wood. Instead of using a cool 

 bath, the heating of the oil in the hot bath may be stopped, 

 and the wood and oil allowed to cool together. This ac- 



Nine 



