VARIETIES. 
47B 
instance  to  be  in  as  perfect  a  state  as  when  first  laid  down  ;  the  bark  was 
unaltered,  exhibiting  two  letters,  the  initial  mark  of  the  contractor,  as 
clear  and  visible  as  when  first  impressed,  while  those  sleepers  which  had 
been  laid  down  unprepared  had  long  since  been  reduced  to  decay.  Upon 
these  results  being  established,  the  greatest  French  Railway  Companies, 
such  as  the  Northern,  Eastern,  Nantes,  &c,  came  forward,  and  required 
the  immediate  application  of  this  process  to  the  timber  used  upon  their 
lines. 
The  following  is  an  extract  of  a  report  upon  the  subject  addressed  to  the 
jury  of  the  late  Exposition,  by  the  administrators  of  the  Northern  Railway 
of  France : — 
"  The  sleepers  prepared  by  Dr.  Boucherie's  process  are  preserved  in  an 
absolute  manner,  it  being  impossible  to  foresee  a  limit  to  their  duration, 
seeing  the  present  perfect  state  of  preservation  exhibited  by  those  sleepers 
laid  down  eight  years  ago.  The  Northern  Railway  Company  has  adopted 
this  process  in  preference  to  all  others. 
"  Since  the  year  1853,  the  Northern  Company  has  ordered  more  than 
300,000  sleepers  prepared  by  this  system,  and  further  orders  would  have 
been  given,  if  they  had  found  contractors  disposed  to  deliver  upon  the  same 
terms  ;  however,  at  the  present  time  tenders  are  required  for  more  than 
200,000  of  those  sleepers."— September,  1853. 
Telegraph  Posts. — The  principle,  as  applied  to  the  use  of  telegraphic 
posts,  has  been  attended  with  equally  favorable  results,  both  as  regards 
durability  and  economy.  In  the  year  1846,  the  French  Government  sub- 
stituted white  pine  posts  prepared  by  this  process,  for  the  usual  oak  posts, 
for  telegraphic  wires  on  the  Rouen  line,  and  they  are  at  the  present  time  in 
as  perfect  a  condition  as  when  first  erected. 
This  proves,  and  it  is  of  importance  to  know,  that  timber  thus  prepared 
is  equally  efficacious  when  buried  in  dry  or  damp  earth,  and  this  is  also  ex- 
emplified daily  by  the  telegraphic  posts  placed  all  over  the  French  territory., 
Mr.  Alexander,  inspector  of  telegraphic  lines  in  France,  officially  reported 
the  costs  of  the  two  kinds  of  posts  employed  on  that  line  as  follows  — 
Prepared  pine  telegraph  posts.  Unprepared  oak  telegraph  posts. 
Feet. 
Ordinary  posts  5£  (4s.  5d.)  against  16fr.  (12s.  9d.) 
Winding  posts  9  (7s.  3d.)  "     40fr.  (£1  12s.) 
Crossing  posts  16  (12s.  Od.)  «     70fr.  (£2  16s.) 
The  following  letter  on  the  subject  is  from  the  administration  of  tele- 
graphic lines  in  France  : — 
"Paris,  August  14,  1855. 
"  Sir, — All  the  telegraph  posts  in  the  French  Empire  have  been  prepared 
by  your  process. 
"  The  administration  had  200,000  on  the  1st  of  January  last,  and  since 
that  time  have  caused  32,000  additional  posts  to  be  prepared. 
"  The  preservation  of  the  posts  thus  injected  with  sulphate  of  copper  is 
