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Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 56, 29 November 1929, Page 9

About twenty-two years ago the plan was started at Lincoln College, Canterbury, of marking with brass plates all posts used on the farm when they were of known timbers and ages. A sample brass plate reads: “Post cut from macroearpa thirty years old inserted here, 1906.” When the post is rotten or renewed the plate is returned to the botanical laboratory and the durability of the post recorded. Some records are: Oregon, twenty years old. lasted in the ground two years; monkey puzzle, thirty years old old. lasted in the ground two years; macrocarpa. thirty years old, lasted in the ground twenty-one years; Robinia, thirty-five years old. has not rotted in fifteen years; jarrah, age not known, has not rotted in twenty-two years. This subject is not of great importance to us (states a report to the board), as owing to our limited choice of local timbers and the great price of bought ones concrete posts are used for almost all our permanent fences.