WOOD-BORERS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 20, 25 January 1911, Page 11

WOOD-BORERS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — This question having brought about some interesting correspondence in your paper, -I would ask you to favour me with a communication thereon. The presence of the wood-borer in some of our buildings, in a more or less degree, is generally admitted. There are, however, preventive and remedial processes that do not appear to have received the attention due to them. By way of introduction thereto, a few words on the flow of sap may not be out of place, as illustrating the main view thereon. I may say that some half-cen-tury ago, boy like, I had a taste for the honey to be found in the flower of the New Zealand flax. Taking a pannikin with mo one day I was on my way to a flax swamp with the object of procuring some by shaking the blossoms inco the pannikin. Meeting an old Maori, who asked me where I wa-3 going, and what I was going for, he said you will not get much, as the tide is out, and I found it to be so. On another occasion a native assessor asked me if I had any good melon seed. "Well," I said, "you havo just returned from the Wairoa, Hawkes Bay, why did you not get 6omo there?"— that being a noted place for good watermelons. "Oh!" he said, "I did not know whether the melons for seed were properly selected or not." In answer to jny queries, he told me that tho Maoris invariably selected a melon for seed in the summer nearest to the stem, which must face the east, as the sap flowed there first and strongest. Consequently, it was better nourished. The old-time Maori was a close observer of nature, and the above are the results of some of their experiences. When selecting peas and beans for seed, I prefer the lower-growing ones; in the case of carrots and parsnips the seed from the crown gives better retults than what is obtained from- the lateral shoots. It has been stated that the pruning of trees gives better results if attended to wheft the moon is making, not when it is waning; also that seeds mature better if sown just after a new moon. Now, for the application with regard to the flow of | the sap in fruit trees. In Australia I understand that the flow of the sap is almost quiescent in the summer time, owing to the intense heat. In , New Zealand there is a cessation of the ¦ flow in the' winter time, thus indicating that the flow of the sap is active or dormant according to season, and as the less sap the wood contains the better the timber, for it is well known that the presence of the borer is first noticed in the sap wood— it clearly proves that it would be advisable to fell timber during the season ) when tne sap is dormant or least active, the probability being that there would be loss starch present during that time. In an interesting article on "Jarrah, Prince of Hardwoods," that appeared in Progress for January, 1911, based on a report by C. J- O'Connor, who had many friends in New Zealand who still havo a warm corner in their heart for, him,

on some tests of the jarrah 'timber, its strength and durability are highly spoken of. Instances are givon of posts — thirty-five years _ old — good as new, perfect between "wind and water" ; a woolbhed, fifty years old, which, notwithstanding the mark of half a century, is as frosh as tho day it was put in; old piles of jarrah taken out of the wharf at Perth after thirty years of life, no sign of the teredo borer thereon. No wonder that this timber has snch a reputation, when we find by further quarrying in this article that it is "generally straight in the grain with moderately-interlacing fibres, and shows very little sap wood, generally under an inch" — the key to the secret being very little sap wood. Preventive Remedial Processes. — The result of Mr. Kirk's experiments haying already appeared in your columns, it ia not necessary to enlarge thereon; There are preservatives, such as the Atlas preservative, which oxpel the sap, harden the wood, make it less inflammaDle, and non-habitabie even for ants. It can be used when the timber is in position, or a trough may be prepared when a building is about to be erected, and the timber immersed therein. In the official report issued by the Department of Land on "Forestry in New Zealand, 1909," C— 4, there is a most interesting account of the Powell Wood Process (see page 80 et Beg.): — Apparently it has been subject to the most severe tests, renders timber immune to the attacks of white ants, the borer and dry rot; renders timber more close and impenetrable, reducing its tendency to absorb moisture, etc. This is such an interesting /¦-.ubject, that, while I could write at greater length, I fear to encroach on my space and the patience of your readers. I have, however, indicated where further information may be obtained. I have been informed that the Government are at the present time experimenting with some of these preservative processes, with the object of testing their value and efficacy. A report thereon will be of inestimable value, now that the timber supply in New Zealand and elsewhere is a diminishing quantity. — I am, etc., ' GEORGE HENRY DAVIES. Karori, 17th January, 1911.