386 



Absorption of Liquid Solutions by Timber. 



Vol. V. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Absorption of I-iquid Solutlous by 



Timber. 



Mr. Editor, — I find by late accounts from 

 England, that the Agricultural Society of 

 Scotland has offered a premium " for the best 

 series of experiments conducted with a view 

 to ascertain what are the liquid solutions 

 which, by being introduced into the sap of 

 trees or shrubs, will preserve the woody tis- 

 sue from decay, or render it capable of re- 

 sisting fire, or impart to it permanently hard- 

 ness, colour, or fragrance." 



The attention of the directors of the so- 

 ciety has been called to this subject by a 

 memoir of Dr. Boucherie, who states that by 

 the absorption of various fluids by timber, he 

 has discovered a method of increasing its 

 hardness without impairing its flexibility and 

 elasticity, of preventing it from warping, of 

 rendering it less inflammable, and finally, of 

 imparting to it various permanent colours and 

 odours. He found that the attractive power 

 of the vegetable tissue was sufficient to carry 

 from the base of the trunk to the leaves, all 

 the fluids which he wished to introduce, pro- 

 vided they were kept within certain limits 

 of concentration. He cut a tree near the 

 base when in full sap, and plunged it into a 

 tub containing the fluid he wished to intro- 

 duce, and in a few days he found it had risen 

 even to the most elevated leaves, and had 

 penetrated all the tissue, except the heart of 

 the tree; and the same result followed, whe- 

 ther the trunk was in an erect or inclined 

 position — it was not even necessary to divide 

 the trunk completely, for a cavity hollowed 

 out at its base, or a groove made with a saw 

 over a considerable part of the circumference \ 

 was sufficient, when the cut part was brought 

 into contact with the fluid, to allow a rapid 

 absorption to take place. It was ascertained, 

 that an absorption of a solution of pyrolig- 

 nite of iron, containing kreosote, aug-mented 

 the hardness of wood and prevented its de- 

 cay, while the penetration of the wood with 

 the solutions of the earthy chlorides and va- 

 rious saline matters, rendered it less com- 

 bustible. Various colours have been given 

 to wood, by causing different solutions to be 

 absorbed in succession; pyrolignite of iron 

 gave the wood a beautiful brown, and when 

 it was followed by an astringent fluid con- 

 taining tannin, a blue, black, or grey colour 

 ensued ; and when succeeded by ferrocyanate 

 of potass, a deep Prussian blue resulted : and 

 in the same way the absorption of acetate of 

 lead and of chromate of potass imparted a 

 ^t^low colour; and by the mixture of these 

 substances, a still greater variety of shades 

 WhS produced. Different odours were, in a 

 similar manner, given to various kinds of 

 wood. 



Now, in all this there is, properly speak- 

 ing, no discovery — the thing was known and 

 practised more than a century ago, but the 

 application of the known fact to useful pur- 

 pose has been the happy thought of Dr. Bou- 

 cherie. In Tull's work on Drill Husbandry, 

 there is an account of an experiment made 

 by placing the roots of a mint-plant in gar- 

 lic-water: it is there said, "I made a very 

 strong liquor with water and the bruised 

 seeds of wild garlic, and filling a glass there- 

 with, placed the top of it close to the top of an- 

 other glass, having in it a mint, two or three 

 of whose upper roots put into this stinking 

 liquor and there remaining, it killed the mint 

 in some time. When the edges of the leaves 

 began to change colour, I chewed many of 

 them in my mouth, and found at first the 

 strong aromatic flavour of mint, but that waa 

 soon over, and then the nauseous taste of gar- 

 lic was very perceptible to my palate^ By 

 this experiment it appears that plants make 

 no distinction in the liquor they imbibe, whe- 

 ther it be for their nourishment or destruc- 

 tion. I remember hearing of a person who, 

 being about to erect a house on a spot which 

 was overshadowed by a row of fine elm-trees 

 belonging to a neighbour who could not be 

 prevailed upon, ybr love or money, to remove 

 them, made the following remark to the 

 owner — " I should not wonder if these trees 

 were not to shoot a leaf another year, in 

 punishment for your unaccommodating spi- 

 rit," and, strange to say, they never did ! for 

 before the next spring they had all died. On 

 removing them, itwas discovered that theyhad 

 been bored with an auger and the holes fill- 

 ed with the black mother-liquor from a neigh- 

 bouring salt-work, which had been taken into 

 circulation, causing the death of the whole 

 of them. 



From this fact and its application by Dr. 

 Boucherie, the most important results are to 

 be expected. The timber, cut when the sap 

 is in full flow, with its sap-vessels filled with 

 medicated substances and submitted to the 

 process of seasoning by means of fire, would 

 be rendered as close and impenetrable as 

 marble, and its lasting quality be preserved 

 for ages, with no fear of worm or dry-rot 

 Such timber, when properly prepared, would 

 be invaluable for the purpose of ship-building, 

 as well as for every other kind of building to 

 which it can be applied ; while that wood 

 which has hitherto been considered as infe- 

 rior and unfit for such purposes, might be 

 rendered almost as valuable as the best. The 

 buttonwood, and other large and soft woods, 

 particularly. Truly we live in an age of 

 " improvement !" Z. 



Absence of occupation is not rest — 



A miud qtiite vacant, is a mind distrest. 



