Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 December 1881 — Preserving Wood Against Decay. [ARTICLE]

Preserving Wood Against Decay.

It has long been known that wood set in mortar is preserved against decay, and many stories have been told of the lasting qualities of wood which have come in contact with this substance. A naval journal stated recently that a lime-laden coasting schooner of unseasoned Maine timber, which went ashore and bilged 40 years ago, was raised some time after and is still in service; and an English paper gives the history of a platform of nine planks which have been used successfully by father, son and grandson for mixing mortar, was then thrown aside ' and allowed to be overgrown with grass, but when brought to light again sixty years after, was found to be still in a state of preservation. strangely no systematic attemps to utilize this knowledge has hitherto been made; and now a method based on this principle has been devised in France, and is simple, cheap, requiring no special apparatus, and also effective. The plan is to pile the planks in a tank and to put over all a layer of quicklime, which is gradually slacked with water. The time required depends, of course, on the thickness of the wood. Timber for mines will he thoroughly impregnated in about a weak. The material is said to acquire remarkable consistency and hardness after this process. The Babylon (L.* I) South Side Signal quotes from a Missouri paper : Mr. Wm. F. Quinlan, Crystal City, Mo., suffered occasionally from rheumatic pains in his knees, for which he successfully tried St. Jacobs Oil