The Washington times., 1903-08-24
SCARCITY OF TIES
BOTHERS RAILROADS
Annual Cost Is Now in the
Hundreds of Millions.
REPORT ON THE SUBJECT
Special Bulletin Sent Out by the De-
partment of Agri-
culture
REPORT ON THE SUBJECT

The growing scarcity of timber IN the
United States is rapidly impressing it
self upon every industry in which wood
Is used, but it is probable that none has
yet come to feel this condition as much
as the railroads and the telegraph COM
panies.
Last year the railroads used 110, ,000, 900
ties. when the construction under way
was fully so per cent less than II is
today. Consequently. as a result of
this growth of construction, the railroad
builders are figuring that the number of
ties needed is going to be about 200. .000,
600. and this from a supply which is
said to be much less than il was in 1902
Special Reports
So momentoUs has the question become
that many of the railroad systems have
begun the culture of trees suitable to
make into ties. and the Bureau of For
estry of the Department of Agriculture
has begun an extensive series Of ex-
periments to develop a practical method
of preserving ties when they have been
made.
The bureau has just issued a bulletin
relating to the matter. Dr. Herman
Won Schrenk has had charge of the ex-
periments, and he has gone into the sub
ject thoroughly. II is reported that IL
costs a railroad about 81 on an
average TO put tie in position, which
means that vast fortune is spent each
year by every railroad in buying this
humble part of its equipment
There was a time, according to the
bulletin, when all ties were made OF
white or other oak, but the document
announces that this kind of wood has
been so cut out of the country that 1t
is no longer available.
Experts Busy.
Pine is now the only wood used by
the majority of the systems. but 1t is
suggested that the American lines fol-
low the plan of the French. who have
made certain kinds of beech last thirty
Ave years by treating It with chemicals.
Recognizing the value of the expert
ments which the bureau has been car
rying on. nearly all OF the railroads in
the country have determined to take
part, and to carry on their own expert
ments under the direction OF the bureau.
AS a result of this agreement. it was
announced today that experts of the
bureau are now cruising in the Adfron-
dacks to determine how much available
hardwood lands there are along the
New York Central's tracks.
Similar work will be done for the Erie
and the Pennsylvania
A party of foresters Is on the so 600
acre tract OF the Baltimore and Ohio
road near Camden on GauIey, W Va,
TO determine how much tie timber there
is on the tract and how many trees II
viii produce every year under con-
servative management.
In the South.
Seasoning experiments with railroad
ties are being conducted in cooperation
with the Santa Fe Railroad and the
Kirby Lumber Company. at Silsbee. Tex.
aud the ties are being treated with
preservatives at Somerville. Tex The
timbers undergoing the experiments are
longleaf, loblolly, and shortleaf pines.
All along the lines OF the Illinois Cen
trail and the st. Louis and San Fran
cisco seasoning experiments are in prog
cak and beech and gum.
Pine Losses.
The experiments In seasoning the
lodgepole pine. carried on last year for
the Burlington Railroad in Bear Can
yon. Mont. and Sheridan. Wyo., have
been continued this year.
Last year it was found that 80 per
-, -.
by open-air drying. which resulted in an
enormous saving in freight.
Work OF similar nature to the rail-
road experiments is being carried ON
for the American Telegraph and TeIe-
phone Company, which used last year
l50, 600 telephone poles and 5000, 900 feet
of timber in cross-arms.
Seasoning experiments are being con-
Quoted on chestnut telephone poles near
Harrisburg. Pa. and on cedar poles near
Wilmington, y. G.
Economic Timbers.
Important and valuable as this work
is to the railroad and telegraph com
panies, II is of far greater Importance
and value to the country at large. The
use of cheaper timbers for railroad ties
is in several ways an economic saving;
it relieves the high-grade timbers of a
part Of the heavy demand that is being
made upon them. opens a market for
timbers for which there is now little
sale. and affords splendid opportunities
for conservative management Of timber
lands.
The work is being prosecuted accord
ing TO the regular cooperative system
Of the bureau. by which the field ani
travelling expenses OF the bureaus
agents are paid by those for whom the
work is done.