permaculture

["Eugene F. Monaco" <EFMonaco@compuserve.com>]

Also worth mentioning is fire hardening.  If you don't have enough locust
or cedar but say you have pine or maple or sweetgum or anything; you can
fire harden the ends by cooking them in the coals of a fire (like blackened
redfish) until they like to burn.  Even if you have locust you should still
do it to double the lifespan.  Keep them rolling about.  It's like making
charcoal.  Chemically, I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know exactly
what happens; maybe it just kills the enzymes and volitilizes the sugars
and essential oils so the fungi won't bother them, kinda like irridation. 
The most critical part is within the top 4" or so of the ground, where the
microbial and fungal action is.  I'd probably cook them to about 12" above
the ground level just to be sure.  In any case, 3 to 5 year posts are noted
to last 30 years or longer.  Fire hardening is a technique most noted for
making tools and weapons, particularly the tips,  among aboriginal
cultures, so you don't tend to find too many white folk who have fenced in
areas using this tecnhique; nor have the makers of lighter fluid funded any
studies to prove the usefullness of this age-old technique.  But then,
hell, you gotta follow the money.

Gene Monaco