The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-06-11
RAILROADS.
CHEAP WOODS Use.
Processes by Which Soft Woods Are
Treated for Use as Rail
road Ties.
Government Bulletin Shows That
Actual Gain in Life Of
Ties Is Made.

Necessity has been the mother of an
invention for the preserving of cheap tim i
bers to replace high grade woods. The
invention is being exploited by the bureau
of forestry at washington. The rapid dis
appearance of American timbers has de-
veloped the method of economy. Waste
full and continued cutting has resulted in
the rapid disappearance of such woods
as white oak, formerly the only wood used
for railroad ties. It never occurred to
the railroad managers that the supply
would ever be insufficient. Forestry can
not make up Immediately for the waste
and it is essential that high grade timber
when cut be put to its highest use and
that low grade stuff be utilized where
possible. This economy the bureau has
persistently urged BY every available
means it has attempted to find uses for
woods not now regarded as understandable
and to substitute such woods for woods
rarer, but better known. The railroads
have been impressed with the necessity
for such a substitution. Lodgepole pine
in the northwest has been laid as ties
during the past year instead of bull pine
Shortleaf and loblolly ties will probably
soon replace those Of longleaf in Missis-
sippi, Louisiana and Texas. Hemlock and
tamarack may take the place of oak and
pine in other parts of the country; and
when oak is used at all for ties it will
be the inferior species instead of the
valuable white oak.
The substitution of low grade for high
grade timbersg depends on timber preserv-
alton. Special treatment must so prolong
the life of the inferior timbers, and at a
cost so small as to make the investment
a good one.
In the first of a series Of bulletins on
problems in timber preservation just is
sued by the bureau of forestry as Bulle-
tin H. Seasoning Of Timber by Her
mann Won Schrenk. the seasoning which
precedes the preservation treatment Is
dealt with. DR.. Won Schrenk's seasoning
experiments have already developed facts
of very considerable Importance.
Advantage of Seasoning.
The main advantages of seasoning tim
Der are that seasoned timber lasts longer,
since the water in green timber is neces-
sary to the life of decay producing fungi;
that it greatly increases the effectiveness
of the preservative treatment; and that
by reducing the weight of timber it
causes a corresponding saving in freight
One Of the interesting facts brought out
by DR.. Won schrenk is that high grade
timbers like white oak and longleaf pine
being much denser than timbers Of low
grade, are not so readily penetrated by
the preservative fluid; and that it is
therefore, more economical to treat low
grade, porous wood like beech, which or
dinarily lasts only four or five years, than
a high grade timber. Beech so treated
has outlasted oak several times. For a
| similar reason sit would be a great
waste says DR.. Won schrenk, '.to at
tempt the treatment of white oak or long
| leaf pine, when better results will be OBJ
| tanned by using loblolly pine or red oak
Experiments Being Made.
The American Telegraph and Telephone
company is experimenting thru. the bureau
with methods of lengthening the lasting
power Of cedar and chestnut poles
In Bear Canyon. Gallatin county, Mon
tana. and at Sheridan, Wyo., tn season.
| ing tests with lodgepole pine, begun last
summer in cooperation with the Burline-
ton railroad will be continued under the
direction of Reynolds Hill. Experiments
in seasoning and preserving longleaf pine
ties will be carried on on large scale
| at Silsbee, Texas.