10 ON PEESEBVING TIMBER EEOM DECAY. 



medals was awarded to Dr. Boucherie, of which only four were con- 

 ferred in all. 



The mode of application is as follows : — Soon after the tree is felled, 

 a saw-cut is made in the centre, through about nine-tenths of its 

 section. The tree is slightly raised by a lever or wedge at its centre? 

 and the saw-cut thereby partially opened ; a piece of string is then 

 placed round the cut, close to the outer circumference of the tree, 

 the support is withdrawn, and the saw -cut closes on the string, thereby 

 making a water-tight joint. An auger-hole is then bored obliquely 

 into the saw-cut ; a wooden tube is driven into the hole, the conical 

 end of which is attached to a flexible pipe, which is in connexion 

 with a cistern or reservoir, at an elevation of from 30 to 40 feet above 

 the tree intended to be preserved. 



When it is necessary to prepare timber in long lengths, a cap is 

 placed at the end of the tree by screws or dogs. The most efficacious 

 solution is composed of sulphate of copper and water, mixed in the 

 proportion of 1 to 100. The strength is easily ascertained, by any 

 intelligent workman, by an hydrometer ; — and the cost of such a 

 solution is so trifling, as to offer no impediment to its universal appli- 

 cation for the purpose in view.* 



It would be difficult to enumerate all the classes to be benefitted 

 by this invention, and the uses to which it may be applied. Railway 

 companies, ship-builders, telegraph companies, and land owners, would 

 alike benefit by it. Post and rail fencing, field gates, wood farm 

 buildings, frame buildings, and dwellings in general, would last many 

 additional years. Mr. R. Stephenson, the President of the Institute 

 of Civil Engineers, in his inaugural address, adverts to the great 

 consumption of railway sleepers by decay, and estimates it at 2,600,- 

 000 per annum, costing upwards of £500,000. Taking the resistance 



* On comparing the above account of Boucherie's process with that described 

 in the Canadian Journal (No. 6, pp. 559-561) and for which a patent was taken 

 out in May, 1856, the two processes appear to be identical 60 far as the employ- 

 ment of hydraulic pressure is concerned, and if such is the case, this part of the 

 patent is void. 



The following is the text of the Patent Law bearing upon this point. " If at 

 " the trial in any such action [for infringement of Patent,] it shall be made appa- 

 " rent to the satisfaction of the Court. . . .that the thing thus secured by Patent 

 " was not originally discovered by the Patentee, or party claiming to bj the 

 " Inventor or Discoverer in the specification referred to in the Patent, but had 

 " been in use, or had been described in some public work, anterior to the supposed 



" discovery of the Patentee the Patent shall be declared void." 13 and 14 Vict. 



" Tj, c. H.—(Ed. Can. Jour.) 



