PRACTICAL FARMER 



35 



OSr THE PRESERVATION OF POSTS, SII>IiS, &,c. 



We have endeavored on several occasions, to 

 call the attention of our readers to the best means 

 of preservinjf posts, sills, and other timbers, from 

 decay. The easiest method is to fell the trees at 

 the right time — not of the moon, but of the year. 

 If this be done, the value of the wood will be 

 several times greater than if cut when the sap is 

 rising in the spring. This is a fact well worth 

 knowing and remembering ; but it is not the only 

 fact connected with this business, that ought to be 

 known and remembered. In addition to the du- 

 rability added in this way, we may add at least as 

 much more by the judicious appliciation o{ salt or 

 lime and for statements of their eflicacy, we refer 

 to pages 80, 155, 145, and 167, of our last vol- 

 ume. 



These substances were applied to prevent the 

 fermentation ; but the former, common salt, has 

 also been used as a preventive against the dry 

 rot. This, which has proved so remarkably de- 

 structive to timbers employed in both civil and 

 naval architecture, is produced by several species 

 of fungi, belonging also to the different genera, 

 such as Merulius lachrymans and Ditiola radicata ; 

 and though we have heard no complaint on this 

 subject in our own section of the country, we 

 presume that some extracts from a late article by 

 William Patterson, an eminent merchant of 

 Baltimore, will be found interesting : 



" knew of a fine vessel built for a Charleston 

 packet, with so much care, that she required no 

 caulking or repairs for/owr years, at the end of 

 that time, when she was carried into the dock to 

 be caulked, she was found to be so totally destroy- 

 ed by the dry rot, as to be unworthy of repair, and 

 was broken up. 



"The year before the breaking out of the late 

 war with Great Britain, commenced building at 

 fine vessel, and had her frame raised, her bends 

 and bottom p'ianke<;l, when I determined to pro- 

 ceed no further. I erected a shed over the vessel, 

 under which she remained yoMr^ecr* before I con- 

 cluded to finish her. All possible care was taken 

 of her ; yet some of the large pieces of timber 

 were found defective, especially the transoms ; 

 timbers 18 inches square were found to be entirely 

 destroyed by the dry rot. It was owing to this, 

 circumstance that I resorted to the plan of boring 

 the large timbers ana filling the holes with salt, 



"I adopted the following plan with all the 

 vessels that I liave built within a period of more 

 than sixty yeai-s. While building, when the 

 bends and bottom planks are on, and before deliing 

 I have caused three sets of stoppers to be placed 

 fore and aft between all the timbers, to keep the 

 salt in its place. The Jirst tier of stoppers are 

 placed at the floor heads ; the second immediately 

 below the lower deck beams ; and the third be- 



tween decks, just above the air streak, common in 

 all double decked vessels. Air streaks are left 

 above the first and second tiers of stoppers, for 

 the j)urpose of adding more salt as the previous 

 supplies of that article settle or are dissolved. Jugt 

 before finishing the ceiling of the vessel, the salt is 

 filled in among all the timbers, from the lowest tier 

 of stoppers to the upper deck — taking care that 

 the salt in the upper tier is well rammed down ; if 

 ivetted, so much the better. 



"In all my experience, //mre never found a de- 

 fective timber in vessels thus prepared, and thus 

 f&ken care of; and I am jjersuaded that th6 dry rot 

 may be entirely prevented, by adopting the above 

 precautions. As a proof of the good effects of 

 the above mode, I will add, that I have two 

 vessels now running which are perfectly sound 

 and trustworthy ; one of them is thirtyone years 

 old, and the other twentyfive ; and the only repairs 

 that have been given to their hulls, were the re- 

 newal of the waist planks of both, and the quarter 

 deck of one of them. This was not owing to the 

 decay of the plank, but to the circumstance of its 

 being fastened whli iron ; the corrosion of the 

 iron caused openings where it passed through the 

 wood." — Genesee Farmer. 



MAKING CliOVER HAY— IN COCKS. 



Nothing is so hard to combat as the prejudice 

 of armers, who think they can learn nothing in 

 their business. We have often recommended 

 curing clover hay in cocks, as the means of 

 doubling the value of this kind of hay, besides 

 lessening the expense of curing it. Many good 

 farmers and intelligent men, have ridiculed the pro- 

 cess, because it run counter to their practice, and 

 was what they could not reconcile to their idea of 

 good management. But they would never make the 

 trial ; if they had done so, they would have seen 

 that they were wrong, and we right. We beg 

 leave here to say, that in many districts of Great 

 Britain, spreading hay from the swath, or tedding 

 it, is going wholly out of practice, as causing un- 

 necessary labor, and as diminishing the value of 

 the hay. But they are not blessed with our ordi- 

 nary sunshine and heat in the haying season. The 

 hay curing process, with them is a business of 

 some days, on account of their comparatively 

 cool climate and humid atmosphere. But with us 

 when the grass is matured, and thin, and the 

 weather good, it is often the business of a day. 

 But this cannot be the case with us with early- 

 mown hay, particularly where clover abounds. 

 The grass is then full of juices, and the succulent 

 stalks of the clover require time, as well as sun- 

 shine to part with their moisture. Spread and ex- 

 posed to a hot sun, the leaves, blossoms, and exte- 

 riors of the stems soon dry, but in diying the exte- 

 rior of the stems become induiated, and refuse like 



