Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 284, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 November 1913 — Which End of a Post Should Be Up? [ARTICLE]

Which End of a Post Should Be Up?

It is a very common belief among farmers that a post will last longer if set in the ground the reverse of the way it s grow in the tree, in other the butt end up. Accordingly, one sees many posts, especially end andigate posts, with the small end down. The supposition is that sap in a tree is always ascending, or at least that it is easier for the sap to go up than down. Consequently, it is argued, turning a post upside down tends top re vent the rise of water, helps to keep the wood dry and therefore renders it less liable to decay. As a matter of fact, sap or water edn flow in either direction with equal facility and the popular notion to the contrary is incorrect. Careful experiments on the relative durability of post timbers have been made by the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station and the above question was considered. One fence in particular contained 156 black locust posts, of which 86 were set with the top end up, 39 with the top end down, and 31 did not show in what position they were set. At the end of 20 years 30 posts, or 19 per cent, were decayed. Of this number 15 were top up, 13 top down, and 4 undetermined. In other words ouetliird of those set top down rotted off, as compared with only a little over onesixth of those set top up. From this and numerous other observations the conclusion was reached “that there is no difference which end is put in the ground, except that the sounder or larger end should have the„ preference. The decay of a post is mostly at the ground line sinee it is there that the conditions as to air and moisture are most favorable to the development of rot causing fungi. Other things being equal, the larger the post the longer it will last. Inverting a post often means putting the small end in the ground, and where this is done the time required to rot it off is less than where the big end is down. If both ends are equally sound the larger should go in the ground! If one end is defective it shouTd be up; since the conditions above the ground are many times more favorable to durability than just at or below the ground line.