Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 549 



copper and zinc or the chloride of zinc, require apparatus somewhat 

 costly and difficult to manage. There is no good reason why any farmer 

 should pay for a patented process of preserving the woodwork about his 

 farm. Most of them are humbugs. The costly processes preserve with- 

 out seasoning; they cannot be worked profitably on a small scale. A 

 good way to preserve shingles is to boil in lime-water and a little salt; 

 some also use a little alum or potash. A simple way of seasoning is 

 to put the wood in a nearly tight box or cask, and let in steam from 

 the exhaust of an engine or from a boiler. I have thus, in a short 

 time, seasoned hickory spokes and ax-handles. I have also seen fence 

 posts thus seasoned. Subject to the heat of the steam from six to 

 twenty-four hours, or longer, as may be the nature of the wood ; then 

 dry in the air. All woods may be preserved, if seasoned and thor- 

 oughly soaked with coal-tar, dead oil, or petroleum. These substances 

 also have a great effect in preventing the attacks of worms. A little 

 pure verdigris mixed with them will make this faculty perfect. A 

 mixture sold by all paint dealers under the name of copper paint is 

 very good for this purpose ; it is merely an oxyde of copper in tar 

 solution. The southern pine tar, thinned with spirits of turpentine, 

 is also a good preservative of wood, or even put on hot without thin- 

 ning. But in all cases it is necessary to have the wood well seasoned. 

 There are no patents on the use of these materials in the manner I 

 have indicated. 



Mr. F. D. Curtis — I lately learned by accident a thing I would 

 have given $100 to have known last summer, namely, that, when lay- 

 ing down floor timbers which are likely to gather dampness, as are 

 those of stables, barns and other outbuildings, it is an excellent prac- 

 tice to cover them an inch thick on the upper side with fine salt. A 

 gentleman in Brooklyn tells me that he always does this when con- 

 structing piers, and that actual experiment proves that it increases 

 their durability a hundred per cent. 



The Chairman — It used to be customary, and is yet, I suppose, to 

 salt every ship while on the stocks, for the purpose of keeping away 

 dry rot. 



Prof. Henry E. Colton — In some places they bore holes in sticks 

 of timber, fill with salt, and plug close ; but I am satisfied that it is 

 just as well, if not better, to season thoroughly and soak in tar. 



