Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-11-12

|
azalea, deutzia, snowberry, forsythia,
weigela, meadow beauty (Spirea) in six
varieties. hydrangea, rose of Sharon,
lilac. bush honeysuckle, spice bush,
globe flower, spindle tree, angelica
tree, privet in two varieties. st. Johns
wort. rosa rugosa, wild roses, pros
trate juniper, staghorn sumac, and
others. For vines there are clematis,
honeysuckie, wistaria, Virginia creeper
] and Boston ivy.
In hardy herbaceous stock there is
mallow, larkspur, tick-seed, beard
| tongue, old-fashioned pinks, infants
breath, day lilly, iris, yucca, blackberry
| lily, peonies, golden glow, Michaelmas
daisy, phlox in variety, asters in vari-
ETY., godenrcd, hollyhocks, ribbon
grass, horse mint, wild SIENNA and
others.
| OF course there are many plants re-
presented in this list which are not
| indigenous to our soil, but the exotics
| have ell been with us for so long tina t
they are thoroughly acclimated and
reliable and fit to be called American.
We do not like to admit that our
beautiful wild barberry is an exotic.
and it does not look so when seen grow
! ing sturdily on our North Shore past
ures. And so it must be said of many
other plants, that they have taken so
kindly to their adopted soil that they
seem to belong here as much as do any
of the truly indigenous ones.
| All this is but a beginning. 1t is con-
| fidently believed that eventually the
road will recognize the value of doing
more of this permanent planting each
year, and to supply the stock for that
work, and to replace the failures in old
plantations as they occur, will need a
nursery for each of it's divisions. Some
of the important stations on the road
have been planted with purchased
Fstock, and from designs by outside
talent, engaged by the company for
! these special cases. The best results,
however, are to be obtained, in the long
| run, by devoting the money used here
tofOre for beddng-plants and prizes to
enlarging the nursery idea, and en-
ploying a designer to lay out the vari-
Gus grounds.
Station planting is a matter of
aesthetics purely, a compliment to the
! improved taste of the people, and a
reflection of their more refined manner
| of outward living, at least. There is
another matter, closely allied to it, but
which has a more utilitarian purpose,
which is now absorbing a good deal of
attention from the mana gements of our
| leading railroads all over the country,
| the Boston e. Maine among the number.
This is forestry as applied largely to the
supply of a future stock of tie timber.
| lteSlr1 nile fla tjrnhG ic inc
and mere difficult to obtain, and the
wear and tear on the ties is far greater
now than formerly owing to the heavy
loads put upon them. Some idea of
what the tie supply means to a big rail-
road uses about 100000 new ties a year,
at an average cost of fifty cents each.
or $5,OOO annual outlay. Today the
the railroads use chiefly cedar, chest
nut, white oak, cypress Southern hard
pine, black oak and hemlock. The pre-
ference is about in the order in which
the kinds are named above. Cedar is
cheapest in the rough, but needs to be
protected with iron plates for the rails
to rest upon to prevent cutting, and
this brings the cost up to that for other
good kinds.
The scarcity of tie timber through
| out the country has become so great
| that some roads have lately ap-
| pealed to the Federal Forestry Blu
reau for advice. The bureaus sug-
gestion is that the roads experiment
with some of the better sorts of cheap
hardWoods such as beech and maple.
The idea is that these hardwood ties
should be air-dried thoroughly, and
chemically treated before laying. If
THIS proves worthy the roads which run
through hardwood countries will do
well to purchase woodlands adjacent to
their properties, where they may grow
their own tie stock 1t may even pay
TO plant plots to desirable kinds.
There is good business from 2 roll
road standpoint, in a roads owning
woodland strips along its right OF w.,
Fires are constantly being set by
sparks from locomotives, and often the
damages demanded are sufficient to
purchase quite extensive tracts. In
some instances railroads do purchase
such lands outright, and keep a strip
near the tracks cleared of inflammable
trash as a protection against future
hres. 1t might be profitable to utilize
such pieces of property for system
'ttitdllS SIOWlIS tie tlmDer. Chestnut
planted six feet apart would furnish Il
crop of posts of six to eight inches in
diameter in 10 years. If alternate trees
were then cut to supply posts Can ar
ticle which railroads are constantly
needing), the remainder could be left
to grow into tie size. Chestnut in the
Merrimack valley, on sandy soil. has
been known to make growth equal to
the above in nine years from seed
In this way also the utiltarian could
be combined with the aesthetic, since
these woodlots along the road would
tend to make the passing landscape
more attractive from the passengers
point of view. The strip now kept
burned might also be planted to white
pine. Sparks falling in the green pines
would drop from branch to branch
without doing HARM and be dead by the
time they touched the ground. The
bottoms of old, exhausted gravel pits |
might likewise be utilized.
The cost of such an establishment
and its maintenance would not be great. |
IL has been shown that the land was
bought for other nllrpOSac pripnori1y |