Excerpt from Report on the Condition of Treated Timbers Laid in Texas, February, 1902 The tests were made on railroad ties because wood in this form is exposed to decay-producing influence at all times, since the position of a tie in the ground, partially surrounded by soil, prevents the evaporation of water and correspondingly promotes the development of the destructive fungi, and because Salts or tar-oil products are apt to escape more rapidly from a tie than from any other form Of wood. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.