POLE TO POLE AND PILLAR TO POST 19 



the naturally more durable woods. The creosote 

 incidentally performs another valuable service in 

 that it protects the submerged portions from the at- 

 tacks of nearly all salt water borers and worms. 



Once upon a time an acquaintance with the art of 

 splitting fence rails formed a part of every man's 

 education. The old-fashioned rail has indeed 

 passed, but not the wood fence post, and we still use 

 -no less than five hundred million a year. Fences 

 today have a new use, not to keep the cattle in but 

 to keep them out. A railroad train at sixty miles 

 an hour can no longer stop to argue right of way 

 with a stray cow, nor is it only a matter of paying 

 damages in the amount of three times the value of 

 the beast. The danger to the train itself is far more 

 serious, and the railroads for their own protection 

 have become the largest users of fencing materials. 

 Fence posts come from all sections of the country 

 and from nearly every species of tree. As the oc- 

 casion may demand they are hewn, split or sawn 

 from small trunks, or, in the neighborhood of large 

 logging operations in the west, from tree tops and 

 heavy branches left by the lumbermen. The 

 swampy regions of the south are rich in suitable 

 woods. 



Here again preservative treatment forms the 

 backbone of durability. Even before the develop- 



