4 OUR VANISHING FORESTS 



the home, simply through ignorance of the fact that 

 decay could have been prevented. Paint has a mild- 

 ly preservative effect which is more or less tempo- 

 rary, but the most modern and effective method of 

 preservation is obtained by impregnating the lumber 

 with coal-tar creosote or a similar product. These 

 true preservatives, while affording a less pleasing ap- 

 pearance than does paint, have an ability to resist de- 

 cay even under most unfavorable conditions, and, as 

 a protection for the under and invisible portions of 

 any wood structure, they are of the greatest value. 

 The United States Forest Service estimates that no 

 less than half of all the lumber consumed in the 

 United States could be thus profitably treated, and, 

 while railroads, engineers and bridge building com- 

 panies now use creosoted timber as a matter of 

 course, it is to be regretted that more of our 

 architects, builders and lumber dealers do not avail 

 themselves of its beneficial qualities. 



The most discussed of all wooden house problems 

 is the fire hazard, and nowhere have substitutes 

 made more headway in the popular mind than in 

 regard to the wood roof question. The makers of 

 asbestos shingles and other patent roofing materials 

 play up one set of statistics in their extensive adver- 

 tising campaigns, while the adherents of wood put 

 forward other and equally convincing facts. One 



