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farms and about enclosures where the additional expense incurred in 

 the use of these forms is a matter of little consequence to the purchaser. 

 The gradual scarcity of good fence post material has caused the plant- 

 ing of many wood lots primarily to supply fence posts. It has also caused 

 the introduction and use of wood preservatives to treat woods which had 

 formerly never been used for posts because of their perishability. Posts 

 have been charred and the tops pointed to increase their life in service, 

 but the most satisfactory method is to treat the portion of the post to 

 be imbedded in the soil with creosote. This is usually done by the open- 

 tank method of treatment. 1 Such non-durable woods as red oak, Caro- 

 lina poplar, box elder, white pine, spruce, loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, 

 hemlock, yellow poplar, elm, basswood and other species which grow 

 naturally or are planted can be made into excellent fence posts by a 

 preservative treatment costing from 6 to 12 cents per post. 



1 See the various publications of the Forect Service dealing with the preservative treat- 

 ment of fence posts as well as miscellaneous articles in the annual proceedings of the American 

 Wood Preservers' Association from 1910 to 1919, inclusive. 



