1914. 
1337 
PRESERVING FENCE POSTS. 
AN I prolong the life of well-seasoned fence posts 
by using gas or coal tar? If so. would you state 
about how long a post so treated will last? 
Virginia. w. D. s. 
The decay of wood is a condition caused by low 
forms of plant life or fungi. These fungi require 
both air and moisture in limited amounts for their 
development. Moderate warmth also stimulates 
their action and growth. Hence it follows that wood 
decays most rapidly in warm, moist climates. An¬ 
other fact also follows that if these conditions 
of air, moisture and warmth can he success¬ 
fully controlled, decay will be checked, as the fungi 
cannot live. To combat these fungi three general 
methods are used : First, treating the woods with 
fungicides. This treatment relies on a fungicide that 
is forced into the wood to kill any spores that may 
be present, and thus prevent the growth of the fungi. 
It is not a satisfactory method where the wood un¬ 
der treatment is to be subject to dampness, as in the 
case of a fence post. Most of the fungicides used are 
water soluble, and under conditions where the wood 
is subject to more or less water, soon seep out and 
leave it in practically the same condition it was in 
before treatment. Second, waterproofing the wood 
under treatment; it has been found that when the 
water content of wood is kept as low as 10 per cent, 
there is very little if any decay present. This 
method fights decay on this ground, not by an at¬ 
tempt to kill the fungi, but so to fill the pores of the 
wood with a waterproofing compound that no water 
will be admitted, and the spores the fungi pre¬ 
vented from securing a foothold because of a lack of 
moisture, the timber being thoroughly dried before 
treatment. Paint and coal tar come under this head ; 
by making a more or less impervious coating over a 
stick they hinder to a certain extent the passage of 
water into it. However, in a place that is as sub¬ 
ject to water as is that occupied by a fence post I 
would consider either as of very little value. A 
green timber, if painted, will rot quicker than the 
same timber would if left unpainted. The paint acts 
as a check to the passage of moisture, and in this 
case prevents the quick drying of the stick, promot¬ 
ing decay, as it furnishes conditions suitable for the 
growth of the fungi. Somewhat the same conditions 
exist in the case of the fence post, and to my mind 
paint or tar would be of very little use here, as they 
would prevent the stick from drying. 
The third method consists of treating the posts or 
timbers with a substance that is both a water re- 
pellant and a strong disinfectant. The fact that it is 
insoluble in water permits its use in places where an 
ordinary antiseptic would be washed out. The fact 
that it is a strong disinfectant prevents the spores of 
the destroying fungi from getting a foothold in the 
wood. The coal tar creosotes come under this last 
head, and are probably our best wood preservatives 
for work of this class, i. e.. fencing. The railroads 
use this to quite an extent in the effort to prolong the 
life of their woodwork. I have a letter before me 
now from the engineer of the maintenance of way 
of the New York Central Lines, stating they estimate 
that treating with creosote doubles the life of a tie 
as far as decay is concerned. They use one of the 
pressure systems; this causes the wood 
to take up a greater amount of the 
liquid than it would if treated by the 
“open tank” method. The cost was 
given as approximating SO cents for a 
GxS-inch tie 8*4 feet in length. 
Two methods of treatment are open 
to the farmer, the brush method and 
the “open tank” method. Where only 
a small amount of work is to be done 
the brush method is probably best. 
Have the wood dry and apply two or 
more coats of hot creosote to the sur¬ 
face with a brush, being careful to get 
the preservative into all the checks 
and cracks. Paint the post to a point 
that will come at least a foot above the 
surface of the ground. The portion of 
a post that rots out first is near the 
surface of the ground in most cases. 
In the “open tank” method the posts are allowed to 
soak for a short time in the hot liquid. Probably 
better penetration is secured in this way than by the 
brush method. Some of the companies handling this 
material have heaters that they loan or rent for a 
small sum to the farmers. The price is around 80 
cents per gallon, a gallon treating in the neighbor¬ 
hood of 30 posts. In regard to the number of posts 
treated with a gallon much will depend upon the size 
of the posts and the wood from which the posts are 
made. 
Posts are usually made from small trees; these 
contain a great deal of sap-wood. The sap-wood 
being more spongy and containing food in a more 
THE KU.TAL X li W-VOKKER 
available form is mose subject to the attacks of 
fungi, and therefore decays quicker than the more 
resistant heart-wood. Here is where the preserving 
process is of value, the sap-wood, because of its posi¬ 
tion and structure takes up a greater quantity of the 
preservative than does the heart-wood; in fact it is 
very seldom that the creosote penetrates to the 
heart-wood, and in this way is made as long lived 
as the remainder of the post. The post illustrated 
was exposed by a cut made in State road construc¬ 
tion. It has been in place about nine years and pre¬ 
vious to this had served as a rail for an unknown 
length of time. 
DECAY OF FENCE POST. Fig. 581. 
Some woods, as cedar, are filled with a gum that 
is a natural disinfectant, preventing decay. Here in 
the North we do not have so much trouble from the 
decay of wood posts. The writer has in mind a fence 
that was built over 10 years ago with cedar posts 
that cost only 2*4 cents apiece at the time. The 
fence was examined this Summer, and very little 
decay found, although no preservative was used on 
them. The posts were well dried though, before 
setting. This has a great deal to do with long life. 
The United. States Government has recently com¬ 
pleted a series of experiments on fence posts, the ex¬ 
periments extending over a period of 20 years. Va¬ 
rious methods of preserving the wood were used. 
The experimenters determined that the “open tank 
treatment” was much more effective than charring, 
or applications of coal tar or petroleum oils. Creo¬ 
sote was the material that they secured the best re¬ 
sults with in their “open tank” treatment. A list of 
the publications available on the subject can be se¬ 
cured from the Department of Publication at Wash¬ 
ington, D. C. ROBERT H. SMITH. 
Remember that hickory tree with the superior nuts. 
It is needed to start a new industry. If you know of 
one—tell us. 
DO OLD HENS PAY? 
OW many years shall we keep a hen? This 
question comes up frequently for discussion, 
and the answers made by practical poultrymen 
are bewildering to a beginner. One man says that 
we should depend upon pullets entirely for laying 
stock. His scheme will be to keep the hens through 
their first laying season, then select the best of them 
for breeders and let the rest go. This plan is based 
on the general theory that a hen lays more eggs in 
her first year than in any other. Many poultrymen 
seem to believe that most of their hens cannot come 
back and give a profitable egg record the second 
year. The system based on this theory demands, of 
course, a vast amount of work in hatching and 
brooding, in order to keep up a full supply of pullets 
each year. On the other hand, there are poultrymen 
who say that we may well keep our hens two. three, 
or even four years, provided we have the ability to 
judge the layers properly or have some system of 
weeding out the drones. Naturally if we could keep 
our hens three years it would mean less work at 
hatching and brooding. 
Does anybody know about this? 
Bulletin 135 of the Utah Experiment Station, gives 
the results of a study in annual egg production. This 
is based on the records of a flock of seven-year-old 
hens and their progeny, and figures given are very in¬ 
teresting. For example, the picture at Fig. 582, shows 
a White Leghorn hen, and her comparative egg rec¬ 
ord for six years was started with 103 eggs. Under 
the usual system of judging layers, this hen would 
have been discarded as a drone, but the next year 
she came back with 197, and repeated with 188. In 
her fourth year she fell down to 72, yet in her sixth 
year she laid as many eggs as she had when a pullet. 
It is a question whether it paid to keep this hen 
after her third year, but such records are necessary 
in order to learn definitely about such things. 
The cost of renewing the flock is considered one 
of the greatest drawbacks to the poultry industry, 
the authors estimating the cost of a pullet—probably 
up to laying age—at from 50 to 60 cents. The aver¬ 
age productive life of hens cannot be estimated at 
this stage of their work, but for the strain used in 
their studies was thought to be about four years. 
The range of individual egg production in their flocks 
was found to be from 100 to 160 in the first year, 
from 105 to 140 in the second year, and from 100 to 
130 in the third year. After the third year the pro¬ 
duction remained fairly constant at about 90. with 
a variation of not more than-10 or 15 eggs per year. 
The flocks giving a low first year record gave a com¬ 
paratively high record the second year, and those 
giving a high first year record gave a low one in 
their second year, but the three-year average of all 
flocks was remarkably constant. This led to the con¬ 
clusion "that an unselected flock of hens of a given 
strain has a certain potential laying capacity in its 
first three years, and that it makes very little differ¬ 
ence how many eggs are laid in either of the first 
two years as the balance will be produced in the 
other two.” The records beyond the third year indi¬ 
cated that there is a very definite laying capacity 
for old hens, and that there will not be much fluctu¬ 
ation from year to year. The average 
individual production for all flocks was 
124 eggs in the first year, the same 
number in the second year, and 112 in 
the third. The conclusions were also 
reached that nearly all the longer- 
lived hens in a flock will lay over 560 
eggs, the majority will lay 600 or 700 
and individual records up to 1.000 may 
be expected. An average for the flock 
of 127 eggs per year for three years is 
unquestionably profitable and indicates 
good constitutional vigor. It was found 
that in flocks making high first-year 
records the second and third year’s 
records were low and that in those 
making low first year's records the rec¬ 
ords of the second and third years were 
high, but the high layers of the first 
year continued to be the highest pro¬ 
ducers. The 10 hens making the highest second 
year's record gave a higher three-year total than 
the 10 making the highest first-year record. More 
hens made their highest year's record after than 
during their first year, and three made their highest 
record in their fifth year. Nearly all the hens in 
these flocks whose total production has been ex¬ 
tremely high have made low or medium first-year 
records. “From these studies it appears that the 
three-year average is the most reliable index of the 
value of a given individual.” m. b. d. 
Yes indeed, the legumes will make the following 
crops dance. 
A WHITE LEGHORN AND HER SIX YEARS’ RECORD. Fig. 582. 
