326 TIMBER AND TIMBER TREES. [CHAP. 



The decay and waste between July, 1869, and April, 

 1871, was very rapid, but the condition of the carbonised 

 and non-carbonised specimens was much the same ; it 

 leaves, therefore, little to say in favour of the charring 

 process, and I should not myself be inclined to use it on 

 timber for works of construction, except as a possible 

 means of preventing the generation of moisture or 

 fungus where two unseasoned pieces of wood are placed 

 in juxtaposition. 



An experiment in carbonising was tried on a piece of 

 plank 5 feet in length, one-half the breadth being charred, 

 the other not ; this was set in the ground under the drip 

 of a roof. In another case a piece of plank was charred 

 over half its length, the other not. Plates of iron were 

 then secured to each end, and the whole immersed in 

 water to ascertain whether the carbonising of the surface 

 would prevent oxidation. When, however, each of these 

 were examined, some six months later, it could not be 

 seen on which side to give the preference. 



The wood backing to the armour plates on the star- 

 board side of H.M.S. " Caledonia " was charred by M. 

 de Lapparent's process, with the view to test its efficacy 

 thoroughly, and when this ship comes under repair it 

 will be ascertained by comparison with the other side 

 how far it is useful in preventing decay. The Admiralty 

 also ordered the faying surfaces of the frame timber and 

 planking of the " Tenedos " and " Spartan," the former 

 building at Devonport, and the latter at Deptford 

 Dockyard in 1868, to be carbonised by this process, in 

 the hope that it will retard the formation of fungus on 

 the surfaces, on which it frequently forms with rapidity ; 

 but, as neither of these ships have yet been opened for 

 repairs (1875), it is uncertain whether any good results 

 have come of the experiment. 



