Organic Termite Repellents Tested Against Cryptotermes Brevis Walker

Abstract

The high resistance to decay and insect attack of some woods which makes them of such great value for building and the construction of furniture for use in the Tropics, is due to the presence in the heartwood of each species of a comparatively minute amount of some unique chemical. Such chemicals appear to have little or no survival value for the tree itself, and indeed often result in its early elimination by selective cutting in virgin tropical forests. The less desirable woods, however, may be given at least superficial protection by painting, spraying, submergence, or pressure-impregnation with such extracted constituents of resistant woods, or with other chemicals synthesized in the laboratory.