1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



847 



The conimiitee on airricultuml implpmonts, 



award a prcniimu to Tench Tilgliinaii, of Tallioi. 



for a wlieat cultinjx niachiiie, invented by Mr. 



Hussey. ^^S 00 



James A. Stkwaut, Chamnan. 



The roinmiltee on butter, award tn Mrs. Mar- 

 tin GoldshoroLiiih, ibr the best 51bs. of Iresh but- 

 ter, S4 00. 



To Mrs. James Vickars, for the best lOIbs. of 

 potted butter, $4 00. 



S. W. I^KCOMPTK. Chairman. 



The rommitteeon fermented liqnors, award Ibr 

 the best barrel of cider, to Benjamin Woodard, 

 $4 00. 



JosiAH Baily, Jr., Chairman. 



The committee on plonphing, award to J. C. 

 Henry, a premium for the "best ploughing m the 

 shortest time, 83 00 



And to the ploughman, $4 00 



The committee would also, had they the power, 

 award a second premium to Tench Tilghman, of 

 Talbot county. 



E. P. Phelps, Chairman. 



KYANIZING TIMBER FOR RAIL-AVAYS. 



[The following remarks were appended to a repub- 

 lication of the article on this subject which first ap- 

 peared in the 'Farmers' Register' at p. 24.3 vol. 5.] 



An article on the application of "Kyan's process 

 for preveniin!>: dry rot"' to the timber used in the 

 construction of rail roads, communicated by me 

 to the "Farmer's [le<rister," having been repub- 

 lished in the National Gazette of the 10th inst. a 

 few additional observations seem to me to be re- 

 quired. 



That article was written especially for the sec- 

 tion of country in which it was first published, 

 where all the rail roads which have yet been made 

 are graded only lor single tracks, and the super- 

 struciures are composed of timber, capped with 

 plates of iron. In this section, where more e.xpen- 

 sive works are sometimes constructed, and more 

 durable materials em|)loyed, the vsubject does not 

 at first come so directly home, in all its bearings, 

 as it will upon more particular investigation. 



j4 permanent work, so liiras practicable within 

 the means of the state, corporation, or individual 

 executing it, is of the first importance and the uni- 

 versal aim. With this view, Ibr a lonff time tim- 

 ber was entirely thrown aside in the construction 

 of rail roads designed to be of this class; and va- 

 rious plans, involving every possible combination 

 of stone and iron, were devised and put in opera- 

 tion. 



But the wear and tear of cars and engines upon 

 rail roads composed of such rigid materials, and 

 the difficulty and expense of keeping those roads 

 in repair, have been Ibund to be so enormous, that 

 stone is now almost entirely abandoned in the 

 plans of new works, and timber makes a compo- 

 nent part even of those which are intended to be 

 the most perfect. So that at the present time, ve- 

 ry commonly in England, and almost universally 

 in our country, wooden sills and iron rails Ibrm the 



first class of rail roads, and entire wooden super- 

 structures, with iron plate rails, form the second 

 class. 



Economy has led to the adoption of the latter 

 kmd of rail road very generally in this^country; 

 and experience has proved that in a mechanical 

 point of view, it is far preferable to the former. 

 The superior connexion of its parts into one com- 

 plete whole, of which the material admits, and the 

 comparaiively small liability of its becoming de- 

 ranceci by climate, settlement of the banks, or any 

 other evil to which works of this kind are exposeti 

 — decay excepted — places it first of all in the scale 

 of usefulness. Then, to preserve from decay the 

 limber which enters so largely into the economy 

 of these works, and thus rendering this simple, 

 and, to us, most convenient plan of road, one of 

 the most /)ern2a,'ic?/^, as well as the most i/sp/uZ and 

 economical, is of the utmost consequence. 



That this can be done, is placed beyond doubt 

 by t'le experiments which liave been made in 

 England for the last ten years upon 'Kyan's pro- 

 ces.s,' and the full confidence reposed in it by men 

 of science in that country who have witnessed its 

 operation. 



How long the prepared timber will last in com- 

 parison with the unprepared, has not been ascer- 

 tained. All that can be said on this score is, that 

 no prepared timber has yet been known to decay, 

 although it has been subjected for years to a dele- 

 terious atmosphere, where unprepared timber al- 

 ways decays in a iL'w months. For all the purpo- 

 ses of rail roads, tfierelbre, we shall not err in 

 classmg it with the most durable materials. 



In the article published in the 'Gazette' it is 

 shown that the expense of |)reparing the timber for 

 a rail road on the plan of the Petersburg and 

 Roanoke road, (and the same estimate may be 

 applied \o sinp;h track woodan roads in general) 

 will be .^762 50 per mile; which, by various expe- 

 dients therein mentioned, it is assumed, may (re- 

 quently be reduced to .'§250 per mile. But sup- 

 pose no reduction is possible; still great benefits are 

 to be gained at a very small expense. 



By the a|)plicaiion of this process to its full ex- 

 tent, the savings in^rsf cosi, in rail roads of the 

 first class, or what are usually denominated per- 

 manent roads, may be put at 3000 dollars per 

 track per mile, or 600 dollars per mile for a double 

 track road; and the annual saving in repairs, ta- 

 king the Columbia and the Portage rail roads as 

 standards, mu--t be at least 200 dollars per track 

 per mile. At the same time, as has been said be- 

 fore, tliat we have a better road. 



These roads however, have stone blocks for the 

 rails to rest upon, with only an occasional sdl of 

 timber, an<l, therelbre, do not afford a fair criterion 

 on which to esiimate the repairs of a road of this 

 class constructed at the present time, which would 

 have all its sills of timber. But the repairs of a 

 road even of this kind supposing also the sills to 

 be of prepared timber, would exceed, by a consid- 

 erable amount, the repairs of a road composed en- 

 tirely of that material, Ibr reasons which I have 

 be lore given. 



Viewed in any light, the subject is of the great- 

 est consequence to tliis country, and I trust it will 

 be Ibllowed up by experiment and investigation as 

 it deserves. 



G. M. ToTTBIf. 



Philndelphia, October \7lh, 1837. 



