I'or llie Kcw Gcncsic Farmer. 



Important Discoveiy--How to leijcler Wood 

 Iiupeiishable aud Incombustible. 



Messrs. Editors: — A discoveiy of ihe highest im- 

 portance appears to have been made in France, by 

 which the long-sought preservation of wood from or- 

 dinary decay, combustion, &c., is finally achieved.^ 

 This has been done by introducing into the wood it- 

 self, through the agency of vegetable life, the sub- 

 stances which contribute to these important ends- 

 It has, indeed, been long known to amateur Botan- 

 ists, that the flowers of house plants, iSrc, may be 

 colored by the introduction of coloring matter into the 

 organization of the plants ; and that the flavors of 

 fruits may sometiincs be injured or destroyed by liquids 

 poured upon the ground, at the root of the tree, at the 

 season of their ripening, which are subsequently im- 

 bibod into the vegetable circulation. But these isola- 

 ted facts have hitherto remained with their possessors, 

 without any useful suggestions having been drawn 

 from them, like a multitude of other scientifical truths, 

 which only require to be applied to the arts, to jiroduce 

 the most important results of usefulness to mankind. 



The announcement of this discovery comes to us 

 under circumstances which leave litde doubt of its 

 truth. The discoverer having submitted his results 

 to the Academy of Sciences, of Paris, n commission 

 was named from that highly scientific body, to inves- 

 tigate the subject, and make a report theieon. In the 

 hope of usefulness, I have made a translation of this 

 report, (omitting some portions, as irrelevant to my 

 purpose,) for your paper, which I subjoin; deeming 

 it highly important that experiments should be exten- 

 sively made the ensuing summer, in conformity with 

 the discoverer's process as shown in the report. It 

 would be no trifling result to secure timber, in all 

 situations from decay, and our buildings from confla- 

 gration, at a cost 80 trifling as to be within the reach 

 of all. 



A physician of Bourdeau.\, Mens. Bouchcrie, has 

 arrived at the all-important result of rendering the 

 tissue of wood almost entirely unattackable by those 

 causes of destruction to which it is ordinarily subject; 

 and at the same time his processes render it much 

 more suitable to the various purposes to which it is 

 applicable in the arts. 



A commission of the Academy of Sciences, at Pa- 

 ris, having been named, to examine the subject, 

 Mons. Dumas, in the name of the commission, made 

 in December last, the following report as the result of 

 its investigations: 



" The Academy has charged Messrs. Arago, de 

 Mirbei, Poncelt-t, Gambey, Adnion, Bous?ningault 

 and myself, with the examination of the Memoir of 

 Mons. Boucher/a, relative to the preservation of wood, 

 the following is the result of our labors: 



" The Academy has already examined, with the 

 most lively interest, the preparations of the author; 

 »nd it has before it at this moment, pieces of these so 

 jjemarkable that the task of its commission is thereby 

 greatly abridged. Mons. Boucherie proposes to ren- 

 der wood much more durable, to preserve its elasticity, 

 to prevent the variations in volume which it expe- 

 riences throi'.gh the agencies of dry and humid atmos- 

 pheres, to diminish its combustibleness, to augment 

 Its tenacity and its hardness; and, finally, to commu- 

 nicate to it various and durable colors and odors. 



"To assume thaj all these exigencies have been 

 satisfied, and that this has been accomplished by meth- 

 ods, cheap, simple and new ; and consummated 

 through the agency of substances that nre common, 

 and which bear but a low price, is to fix the attention 

 of the Academy, in a few words, upon the important 

 features of the subject we are charged to examine. 



" For the purpose of penetrating air entire tree with 

 preservative, coloring, or other matter, the author has 

 recourse to no mechanical, costly or complicated 

 means; he finds all the force of which he has need, in 

 that process, within the tree itself, — the same force by 

 which its own sap is elevated and distributed through 

 its various parts. This, alone, snflices to convey from 

 Jhe base of the trii. kto the very leaves, all the liquids 



which he wishes to introduce, provided that these are 

 maintained within certain limits of chymical concen- 

 tration. If a tree be felled, while in full sap and leaf, 

 and the base of the trtmk be at once plunged in a vat 

 or reservoir containing the liquid which it is desired 

 the timber shall imbibe, that liquid, in the space of 

 a few days, will ascend to the very leaves, and pene- 

 trate every part ol the vegetable tissue, except the 

 heart of the tree, which, in some instances of great 

 age and hardness, or imperfect vitality, resists the ab- 

 sorption, and is not penetrated. 



" It is not entirely necessary that the tree shall re- 

 tain all Its branches and leaves during this process, 

 although it is important that those of the extreme top 

 should remain uninjured. 



" It is not important that the tree shall remain 

 standing during the operation, which would not al- 

 ways be convenient: it may be felled, aud its butt sub- 

 merged in the liquid it is destined to absorb, when 

 this will find its way to every part. 



'• On the other hand, the tree may be treated stand- 

 ing, if this be preferred ; for it is only necessary that 

 cavities be cut near the bottom, or the trunk be par- 

 tially severed by a saw, and that the parts thus pre- 

 pared be put in contact with the liquid, to ensure the 

 desired result. 



" This species of penetration, or absorption, which 

 is effected in a few days, without either difficulty or 

 labor, is, as will be readily seen, wholly different from 

 any means hitherto employed. Previous methods are 

 well known to consist of forcing the ingredients into 

 the pores of the wood, by powerful pressure, or of in- 

 troducing them by the prolonged and imperfect action 

 of liquids prepared at much cost, in huge vats, in 

 which the timber is kept submerged. 



" The new and ingenious process of Mons. Bou- 

 cherie has placed at the command of industry an im- 

 mense natural force which enables it, without cost, 

 to conduct into the most delicate vegetable tissues all 

 soluble substances which it may be desirable to depo- 

 site there. 



" If the author has resolved, in a simple and ready 

 manner, the great problem which he at first proposed, 

 he has not manifested less sagacity in his choice of the 

 substances which he has adopted for fulfilling all the 

 indications announced above. 



"To augment the duration and hardness of wood, 

 and to oppose its decay, either dry or humid, the crude 

 pyrolignile of iron is to be introduced into its tissue. 

 This substance is wisely ch'sen, because crude pyro- 

 ligneous acid is produced in all the forests, in the 

 process of manufacturing charcoal; and it is easy to 

 convert this into the pyrolignite of iron, by simply 

 putting it, even when cold, in contact with scrops of 

 old iron; and because, also, that the liquid, thus pre- 

 pared, contains much creosote, which independently 

 ol the salt of iron, itself possesses the property of hard- 

 ening, and of guarding against the attacks of decom- 

 position, as well as the destruction caused by insects, 

 in wood and timber employed in constructions and for 

 other purposes. 



"Autiientic experiments tried in the cellars of 

 Bourdeaux, upon hoops, prepared by the author, have 

 proved, in the most conclusive manner, the prolonged 

 duration of wood, after subjection to his process. — 

 The ordinary hoops fell to powder, upon the least ap- 

 plication of force to them, while those of the same 

 age, which had been subjected to his preparation, 

 were as solid as upon the first day they were placed 

 there. 



"If he wishes to preserve the elasticity of wood, 

 and to render it less combustible, the author has found 

 in the employment of chlorine with an earthy base, 

 the means of accomplishing these ends. Ever pre- 

 occupied with the thought that his discoveries, to be 

 most serviceable, must receive universal practical ap- 

 plication, the author has not contented himself with 

 the employment of the chlorateof calcium, notwith- 

 standing its great cheapness, but he has analyzed the 

 sea water from the pits of the salt works, which is 

 without value, and by so doing has obtained therefrom 

 all the qualities necessary to his purpose. The differ- 

 ent woods prepared by his saline solutions preserve 

 their flexibility, even after several years exposure to 

 the air; and thin sheets of this wood were twisted into 

 spirals, first in one direction and then in the contrary 

 one, without their suffering the slightest fracture or 

 injury of any kind. Exposed to the air these thin 

 pieces were neither split or otherwise injured however 

 dry they became: and, finally, they were so far incom- 

 bustible as to be incapable of sustaining or propagating 

 conflagration, 



" To these highly usefid properties, which the con- 

 structors of ships, bridges, dwellings, &c., will readily 

 opprecinle, and turn. to profit, Ihe author has joined 



others, less important, certoinly, but still ne* 

 not without interest, in the arts. He colors wr 

 clouds so varied and casual as to promise much 

 by the employment of his method in ornamentj 

 most ordinary woods, so as to fit them for the 

 tion of furniture, and for other purposes of orni 

 use. 



"The specimens of this kind, now before the 

 my, relieve us from all details upon this head; 

 therefore suffices for us to say: 



" That the pyrolignite of iron, alone, givei 

 beautiful brown tint; 



" That by causing tannin to be absorbed by tl 

 after the pyrolignite of iron, the mass of the 

 rendered black, while some portions exhibit 

 blue, black and gray; 



"That by introducing, first, the pyrolignite oj 

 and afterwards the prussiate ol Fotassa, a fine Pi 

 blue is produced; 



"That by introducing, successively, thcao 

 lead and the chromale of potassa, a lemon, or chi 

 of lead color is produced; 



"That by introducing into the same trunk, 

 rolignite of iron, prussiate, and acetate of leai 

 chromatc of potassa, the whole wood assumes 

 of clouds of blue, green, yellow and brown, 

 collectively produce the most varied and pleasi 

 feet. 



" The colors and shades maybe varied almosl 

 finity, according to taste or fancy; as chymil 

 sufficiently rich, in agents of this noture, tosatii 

 wants, and even the caprices, of the most fasti: 



" We have said nothing here, of the communii 

 of odors to woods, by impregnations of this kini 

 cause this is an ojiplication easily comprehended 

 out explanation; and also because it is too al 

 limited to the demands of luxury to be placed 

 same scole of importance with the valuable 

 which we have above enumerated. 



" It is evident, from the bare announcement 

 these results, that they have not been, and never 

 be, the result of accidental discovery. The authi 

 reduced them from simple ideas ; and they 

 fruit of long continued and laborious studies a: 

 periments." 



The commission closed their labors with a n 

 mendatioii that a copv of their report be transmit! 

 the ministersof agriculture and commerce, of thi 

 lie works and the marine, of finances and of war, 

 recommendation was adopted by the Academy. 



At a subsequent sitting of the Academy, that 

 received notice from the ministers of war and 

 nance, that they had recommended the method ol 

 Boucherie to the special attention of the commissii 

 of engineers, the artillery, and the woods and fo: 

 This shows the importance that is attached to thi 

 covery, by public functionaries, and by the first si 

 tifiic men of this, or any age, residing upon the 

 where its results have been withnessed and invesi 

 ted. R. W. HASKINl 



Buffalo, March 22, 1841. 



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Joiut Interest of the North amd South i 

 iiitcr-State Trade. 



All classes at the North taxed for Revenue — not soi 

 the South. Tobacco Planters leginnirtg to vnda 

 stand their interests. The end of State Stochs atl 

 remittance to pay foreign debts. 

 Messrs. Editors — The Cotton Planters of tb 

 South export more, and consume less, of their owi 

 productions, than the farmers and manufactureis (f 

 the North. Hence our maratime commerce receiva 

 its greatest stimulus from the South. Northern shipi) 

 carry both ways all that is raised of agricultural sta- 

 ples, and all that is consumed of manufactures at the 

 South; and as Pennsylvania, New York, and New 

 England, are more legitimately the workshops for tilt 

 South, than all the rest of the world, we can easily see 

 of how great importance the South is to the North, an^ 

 vica versa. 



But the South very much overrates her important 

 to the Union, when she asserts that because shepaysf 

 large portion of our foreign debt with her cotton, shfl 

 ought on that account to receive her wines and silkj 

 without impost. 



