Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 January 1875 — Wood Seasoned With Salt [ARTICLE]

Wood Seasoned With Salt

It has been found by long experience that immersion in salt water while wood is seasoning prevents or retards its decay. In Holland, where active shipbuilding has been carried on for centuries, this fact is universally admitted and utilized. Other maritime nations have also known and taken advantage of it. It is found, too, that piles sunk in salt water last for an unlimited time. External causes of decay may be neutralized by painting the wood; but against me internal dry rot this is ineffective. In order to prevent dry rot, wood must be subjected to treatment when seasoning, and salt seems to be the most available of the simple and cheap antidotes. Even after dry rot has commenced in timber, immersion in salt water checks the decay and preserves the remainder of the wood. It is said that in the salt mines of Hungary and Poland the galleries are supported by wooden pillars, which last unimpaired for ages from being impregnated with salt. -wi '