570 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



December 



based on an irrigation season of 100 of these works, the next step will be 



days, with the duty of water two-acre- for the land owners who are in pos- 



feet per acre, and the cost of coal $2 session of practically all of the irri- 



per ton, is as follows : gable land under these projects, to 



For main pumping plant, including form water users' associations, provid- 



cost of buildings, machinery, piping ing for the collection and payment to 



and freight, $72,000 ; auxiliary plant, the government of the cost of reclama- 



$29,750 ; boiler plant, engineers' sal- tion. Thus far in the progress of gov- 



ary and incidentals, $18,950; suction ernment work this step has been one 



and pressure pipes, intake and canal of the most difficult. The govern- 



headworks and buildings, $60,000 ; ment requires that the land owners 



first cost of canal system, $70,000 ; to- shall pledge their lands as security for 



tal for entire plant, $250,700. The es- the return in ten annual installments 



timated cost of the annual operation, without interest of the sums expended 



$30,325, or $2.02 per acre. The esti- in the construction of these works. It 



mated first cost of the plant is $16.71 is hoped that an organization will be 



per acre. effected this winter in order that the 



Since the Secretary has set aside the engineers may take up the work of 



necessary amount for the construction actual construction early next season. 



A NEW TIMBER SEASONING PROCESS 



The Bureau of Forestry Will Soak Poles in Water 

 and Then Invegtigate Their Rate of Seasoning 



T" 1 HE Bureau of Forestry, at its 

 new experiment stations in Wis- 

 consin and Michigan, will make sea- 

 soning tests of cedar and tamarack tel- 

 ephone and telegraph poles which have 

 been submerged in water for varying 

 lengths of time. This is an entirely 

 new line of experiment. That immer- 

 sion in water seems to affect the rate 

 of seasoning has often been noticed. 

 Rafting is said by many lumbermen 

 to improve timber, and logs which 

 have lain for a long time in swamps 

 are in some places eagerly sought for 

 their superiority for certain uses. But 

 just whythis should be true, and what 

 practical use can be made of the fact 

 in seasoning generally, are matters 

 which have never been thoroughly as- 

 certained. 



It is known that the sap of green 

 wood contains certain soluble sub- 

 stances albumen, starch, sugars, tan- 

 nin, etc., which undoubtedly are 

 leached out of timber immersed in wa- 

 ter to a greater or less extent. In ordi- 

 nary seasoning these substances are 



left behind as the water evaporates and 

 are deposited on the cell walls. As 

 seasoning begins on the outside, 

 these deposits must act as clogs which 

 virtually bottle up to a certain degree 

 the water in the interior. It is possi- 

 ble also that chemical or physical 

 changes in the wood cells are pro- 

 duced by soaking. 



Timber seasoning is at best tedious 

 and slow work. It can be done fairly 

 well in ten or twelve months, but thor- 

 ough seasoning requires from eighteen 

 to twenty-four months, the time vary- 

 ing with the different kinds of wood. 

 If the Bureau of Forestry realizes its 

 expectations from these new experi- 

 ments, the time required for season- 

 ing poles will be reduced one third, 

 and possibly much more. This would 

 prove an exceedingly valuable econo- 

 my. If, in addition, the durability of 

 the poles can be increased in this way, 

 the saving both to users of poles and 

 to the cause of forest preservation will 

 be enormous. For every year added 

 to the service of poles cuts off a pro- 



