Proceedings of the Farmers* Club. 305 



Fence Posts Again. 

 Mr. Dvviglit Newton, Robinson, 111. — Chemists recognise a form of 

 decay in wood called the putrefactive, and another form called " slow 

 comhustion." The putrefactive often begins in the standing and 

 growing tree, almost always next the ground, and it generally exists 

 in a uniform degree through a large portion of the diameter. The 

 signs of its existence are often very slight. I have seen workmen using 

 such wood for cogs and spokes, protesting that they were cutting the 

 very best of wood. If kept dry and ventilated it might last a long 

 time. But if fence posts were taken from the butt cut of such a tree, 

 those set butt downward might rot sooner than those reversed, for the 

 reason that the decay would be already most advanced at the lower 

 end when set. This may explain the results of some experiments in 

 reversing. Whether the valves of the sap vessels can reverse them- 

 selves in dead wood may be difficult to ascertain. I merely know 

 that such a result could not occur in a dead animal. The best timber 

 for posts is that which is but little subject to the putrefactive form 

 of decay, and at the same time resists well the other form called com- 

 bustive, which latter is simply rotting on the outside while the interior 

 remains perfectly sound. This kind of rotting of posts always proceeds 

 most rapidly at, and just below the surface of the ground, and, of course, 

 if putrefaction does not set in, the durability of the post depends in a 

 great measure upon its size. Just as we see the big green logs in the 

 burning log lieap endure longer than the smaller logs. Cedar and 

 some kinds of pine rarely decay by the putrefactive process, and very 

 slowly by the combustive. The same I believe to be true of wild 

 cherry and black walnut, of course in less degree. Whether either 

 process is hastened or retarded according as the circulation of water 

 in the vessels is upward from the ground or downward from the 

 clouds, let the club judge. Having heard the question disputed most 

 tenaciously for nearly half a century, I recoil from it as from the 

 cheat and wheat question. 



Asparagus. 



Mr. K. II. Perry, Oakville, Conn., asks how and when to make an 

 asparagus bed. 



Mr. S. Edwards Todd. — Take the warmest, mellowest land you , 

 have, spade it deep in September, and work in lots of horse manure. 

 Also use salt freely, say half a bushel to a square rod. You can raise 

 the young plants from seed, or get roots from a gardener or some 



[Inst.] , 20 



