,106 



F A K M E R S' REGISTER. 



[No. 2 



From the Q-uarteily Journal of Agriculture. 



kyan's process for the prevention of 

 dry-rot in timber. 



Until the privileges of the patent graritetl to this 

 invaluable discovery were secured by act of par- 

 liament to a company, its excellence made little 

 impression on the proprietors of wooded proper- 

 ties. The company, aware that no conviction in- 

 spires conlidence like that derived Irom reference 

 to tacts, has never ceased, since its formation, to 

 adduce the most authenticated tiicts in favor of 

 the efficacy of this simple process. Ld<e every 

 great practical improvement, it is now, slowly it is 

 true, but not less securely, establishing itself in 

 public confidence. The whole process, we be- 

 lieve, consists simply of sleeping limber in a solu- 

 tion of corrosive sublima'e, the bi-chloride of mer- 

 cury. Mr. Kyan, in claiming credit for this pro- 

 cess, does not pretend to the discovery of any new 

 principle; it is only in the application ol a known 

 principle to practical purposes that his claim con- 

 sists. It was well known belbre that a solution of 

 corrosive sublimate was commonly used lor the 

 preservation of cases of morbid diseases in ana- 

 tomical preparations, and even that the delicate 

 texture of the brain was preserved in a firm state 

 by it; but it was never known, or even conjectured, 

 until JVlr. Kyan published the fact, that it would 

 also preserve timber from decay, that it would pre- 

 vent that internal decomposition in timber, which 

 terminates in what is commonly termed dry-rot, 

 a terra quite descriptive of tlie efiect of the dis- 

 ease. 



For many years Mr. Kyan endeavored to im- 

 presson the admiralty the importance of his dis- 

 covery in preserving the timber intended to be 

 used in ship-building, but to no purpose. It is 

 no wonder so simple a process did not at once ob- 

 tain credence of its efficacy. At length, however, 

 so many facts of its efficacy in preserving isolated 

 pieces of timber from destruction in unfavorable 

 circumstances were adduced by Mr. Kyan to ar- 

 chitects and others, that a parliamentary inquiry 

 was instituted, and the evidence pubfislied. Sir 

 Robert Smirke, among other eminent architects 

 and timber-merchants who were examined, stated 

 before the committee, that he had taken a cut 

 from a log of Canadian yellow pine, poplar, and 

 Scotch fir, after being prepared in Kyan's process, 

 and put them in cess-pools and common sewers 

 for six months, in hot-bed compost-tiames for 

 other six montlis, in flower-border for the succeed- 

 ing six months, and had them watered along with 

 the flowers, and in damped cellars, excluded fi-om 

 the air for the last six months, but contrive all he 

 could, he could not rot them. Every one is 

 aware these soft pieces of timber, unprepared, 

 would have rotted under such treatment in a very 

 short time. This evidence, however, leaves the 

 question unanswered, whether it is necessary, in 

 the first instance, to season the timber thoroughly 

 before the process will preserve it from dry-rot. If 

 the utility of the process were even confined to 

 seasoned timber, it would still be a valuable discove- 

 ry, for theships of the navy that were affected with 

 dry-rot were all built of seasoned timber of at least 

 three years' exposure to the air; but before the tim- 

 ber is considered seasoned only conceive the de- 

 struction occasioned by the dry-rot. During an in- 

 spection which took place in Deptford yard, in the 



months of October, November, and December- 

 1801, to ascertain the quantity of defective timber 

 after the lot had been seasoned, it was found that 

 out of 870 trees of sided timber, containintr 611 

 loads of 50 cubic feet each, 239 trees, containing 

 169 loads, were defective. In Depilbrd, in Octo- 

 ber, November, and December, 1803, out of 138 

 trees, containing 114 loads, 74 trees, containing 60 

 loads, were found defective. Again, in Deptford, 

 in April, Mav, and June, 1805,' out of 230 trees, 

 containing 268 loads. 65 trees, containing 99 loads, 

 were found defective. And in Plymouth yard, on 

 January 20, 1806, 636 trees, containing 990 loads, 

 were found to be defective. It may be safely as- 

 serted, that at least one-third of the sided trees 

 which are put past to season in the navy dock- 

 yards become unfit for the building of ships in the 

 course of three years. The national loss in this 

 item of public expenditure must therefore be con- 

 siderable, especially when we bear in mind that a 

 first rate man-ofwar of 120 guns requires 5880 

 loads of timber to build her; a 74, 3600 loads, and 

 a 28 gun frigate 963 loads. Now, Kyan's pro^ 

 cess as well seasons timber in a short time, as pre- 

 serves it when seasoned, from dry-rot. as will be 

 seen from this testimony of Mr. George Ward, 

 Dorset street, Salisbury square, London, joiner, 

 who cut a piece out of a log of Hispaniola maho- 

 gany, on 9th March, 183 >, sent it to be steeped on 

 12th April, and used it in a wrythed hand-rail on 

 21st June of the same year. He cut another 

 piece out of a loir of the same kind of mahogany 

 on 25th March, 1833, sent it to be steeped on the 

 4th June, and used it in a clamptflap and frame on 

 30th August of the same year. On 5th July, 

 1834, he says, " in neither oi' the above instances 

 has there been the least shrinking of the wood 

 since it has been used, nor has the color of the 

 mahoirny been at all injured by the process." It 

 must be owned no severer trial for warping could 

 unseasoned timber be subjected to, than in hand- 

 railing and clampt-framing. We observe in this 

 city that many cabinet-makers, rather than place 

 their capital in a dormant state by storing up tim- 

 ber to be seasoned, send it to Kyan's lank to be 

 steeped and seasoned just as they require it. 



The ravages of the dry-rot among the ships of 

 the navy are feirlui. Independently of the enor- 

 mous cost for repairs which this disease causes to 

 be incurred to the nation, the jeopardy in which 

 men's lives are placed at sea in ships in a state of 

 dry-rot is worthy of the nation's consideration. 

 It is not uncustomary for vessels to cruise on fo- 

 reign stations for three years, and yet many of 

 the ships of the navy have been obliged to be 

 docked for repairs in a shorter time than that af- 

 ter they have been prepared ihr sea. Out of 23 

 seventy-fours, only nine exceeded three years be- 

 fore they were obliged to be docked for repairs af- 

 ter being built. The Ajax, seventy-four, was 

 only five months at sea after being finished in 

 1798. The I'Achille, one year five months; and 

 six others not exceeding two years. The Kent 

 was longest in being docked, being seven years 

 one month at sea. The average of the whole 

 number did not exceed three years five months. 

 But it is not the loss ofservice alone of such valua- 

 ble ships when in dock that is most to be deplored, 

 the pecuniary loss arising from repairs, entirely 

 occasioned by the ravages of the dry-rot, is of 

 greater importance. The hull of the Ajax cost in 



