October i, 1890.] THE TROP8CAL AQRIGULTURIST. 237 
VULCANIZING TIMBEE.’ 
The Indian Engineer, in writing on railway 
sleepers, says; — 
The only way in which inferior descriptions of 
timber can be made useful is by using some preserva- 
tive, and great interest has Ireen taken in this matter 
by the American Forestry Congress, who were specially 
appointed to consider the best method of rrlieviug the 
forests from the heavy calls made upon them for 
sleepers, trestles, and other railway works. Kyanizing, 
Oreosoting, and Buruettizing, have each been found 
wanting, but “Vulcanizing” bids fai" to prove a success 
in every way, and it is thought that the difficulty has 
at last been grappled with. The Inventor says of this 
process: — “The curing or drying of wood until the 
discovery of the vulcanizing process, had received no 
new idea or improvement from the earliest time ; 
while in the matter of working other materials, su li 
as the amalgamating of metals, the making of steel, 
&c., the records of the past century show a marked 
advance ; but for wood, the greatest product, the con- 
sumption and uses of which overshadows all other 
useful products of the earth, substantially noth- 
ing of any value has been accomplished.” To 
properly preserve and cure wood and lumber, we 
have only to consider a few simple and self-evident 
facts. In its growing state wood is stronger and more 
elastic than when dry. It contains in its fluids all 
the antiseptic qualities and elements of self-preservation. 
The tree in the forest, exposed for centuries to atmos- 
pheric changes, does not decay ; but gird aud deplete 
it of its fluids and the disintegration of the fibre 
commences. This then is the basic idea upon which 
the new discovery of vulcanizing is founded, and the 
results obtained accomplish more than is claimed by 
all previous inventions and discoveries. In the appli- 
cation of the vulcanizing process a cylinder made of 
boiler plate, one-half to three-qnarters of an inch in 
thickness, sufficient to withstand a pressure of two 
hundred pounds to the square inch, is used. This re- 
ceptacle is made of any desired length and diameter, 
according to the number of feet of lumber required 
to be treated daily. The wood is piled on small iron 
cars, in a shape to conform to the contour of the 
cylinder, and the cars are then run into the tank on 
small rails fastened in its bottom. A number of cars 
are made into a train sufficient to charge the tank, and 
the door is closed making an air-tight fastening. From 
a large compressor air is pumped through pipes into 
the cylinder until the gauge registers the desired 
pressure, varying from 100 to 175 pounds to the square 
inch. After leaving the comjiressor, aud on its way to 
the tank, the air, by a system of pipes, passes through 
a small stove or furnace and is heated to the required 
temperature — varying from 400 to 600 degrees Fahren- 
heit, according to the kind of wood in treatment. 
The air pressure holds the sap or fluids in the wood, 
effectually preventing their evaporation, or the charring 
of the fibre of the wood, while intense heat passing 
through and clear to the centre of the stick, so sub- 
limates and attenuates the fluid matter of the wood 
that a new compound is formed, or rather the con- 
stituent elements of the sap are now in combination 
which otherwise are, under lower and different degrees 
of heat, distilled separately. All preconceived methods 
of curing timber ore here reversed, and instead of 
distilling out these valuable antiseptics, they are 
distilled in the wood itself, a sufficiently high degree 
of heat being used to allow of their complete affiliation 
as a new and oleaginous compound. The heat and 
pressure then being removed, the door is opened, and 
the tank is emptied and ready for the next charge. 
Thus it will be observed that no foreign material 
being necessary, the process is not only rapid 
but BO inexpensive as to recommend its adoption to 
all u.sers of wood. 'When the timber is removed from 
the cylinder, tlie now compound now permeating the 
entire fibre, a chemical ciiange or o.':idatiou takes place 
while the wood is cooling down, rendering it imper- 
vious to moisture, never affected by the changes of 
the atmosphere, or the alterations of wet and dry; 
oousequently it oaunot rot; cannot shrink or swell; 
33 
offering no point of attack like seasoned or kiln-dried 
lumber; its pores are filled with its own material, — 
a material composed of the best known antiseptics, 
and ill such shape as not to be soluble in water. 
Wood vulcanizing, from ample proofs during the last 
seven years, escablislics the fact that it not only 
prevents the rotting of wood in the most exposed 
situations, but also prepares any kind of green wood 
for immediate use. Vulcanized cross-ties (sleepers) can 
be supplied in America at a cost of from 40 to 81) 
cents each, according to locality and variety of wood, 
aud will last at least 30 years. 
Cotton-wood is the worst wood known for railway 
sleepers, bat it is claimed that by vulcanizing this wood 
it can be made as durable as the best oak. 
Taking the prices quoted for this process in America, 
we should be able to vulcanize deodar, or any other soft 
wood, sleepers at a cost of Re 1 each, and as the present 
price of this class of sleeper — for broad gauge lines — is 
from R3-4 to R3 8, the total cost of vulcanized sleepers 
would still be ten per cent lower than is now charged for 
sdl sleepers. 

POSITION OF THE CHINA TEA TRADE 
AS COMPARED WITH INDIA AND 
CEYLON. 
Foochow, 21st July, 1890, 
To the Editor of the “ Foochow Echo.” 
Dear Sir.— I am sure that we are all under obli- 
gations to you, for the interesting articles on the 
tea trade of this port which have lately appeared in 
your paper, and I beg your forbearance whilst I 
make a few remarks on that in your issue of 19th 
instant. And firstly, as the author of the original 
article which appeared on 5th instant, allow me to 
thank you for the gratuitous addition by you of the 
words “ Communicated,” and the introductory aud 
deprecatory paragraph which you so hindbj inserted 
regarding it. Curiously euough, I cannot find either of 
these two “ additions ” in your last issue pertaining 
lo what I may presume to he a reply to my remarks. 
May I assume from this that you endorse and adopt 
the views contained in that reply ? I will be as brief 
as I can in my review. I pass over the first por- 
tion of your article and come to the question asked 
therein “ Are our teas so very bad after all?” Then 
follow the words “We only know this that there are 
several markets in the world which will still have 
them, and no others.” Why not name those markets ? 
If Australia is alluded to, I must ask what means 
the export from India and Ceylon of some 4 millions 
of pounds to that Continent ? What mean the 
figures in Greig and Murray’s Circular of 2Sth May 
last ? Stock in bond 24th May, China 3,408,389 
lb., Indian aud Ceylon 1,031,895 lb. 
If America and Canada be meant, there is no 
foundation for the statement, because Messrs. Gow, 
Stanton & Co. of London, assert in the public papers 
that the oonaumptiou of Ceylon Tea is spreading 
quickly. If the “Cape” be meant, the statement la 
probably true, but affects only a total quantity of 
about 1| million pounds. As for saying that in London 
in spite of the tyrant “ fashion,” they cannot do 
without them, see what Rucker and Bencraft in their 
Circular of 6th June last say, ‘-‘The increase in the 
deliveries of Indian, 10 millions, and “ Ceylon,” 8 
millions=18 millions Aas dtoyiZacetf 18 millions of China 
Tea.” I come now to the paragraph speaking of the 
marked superiority of the Souchongs and Soomooa 
this season, and arguing therefrom that other kinds 
may improve in the future. 
Souohougs, formerly a very paying item in the London 
Trade, have now, alas, become of very slender im- 
portance, the taste for them dying out, and the losses 
on their shipment last season being e.xceptionally heavy. 
Soomoos aud Ohiangloks are it is true .superior to 
last seasons, but they form but a small proportion of 
our crop, for out of a total of 312,000 chests of Congou 
to hand up to date, they only number 26,000 chests. 
Per contra, I may ask, are the Saryunes superior to 
last seasons, or the Suej Kuts, or the Yung Hows, or 
