Conservative *
RAILROAD FORESTRY.
The reputation which railroad officials
have deservedly earned for promptness
of action , clearheadedness in emergen
cies and foresight in anticipating the
inevitable , is clouded by a condition
which it is singular they have not seri
ously considered. A reason may exist
in the fact that , from the nature of the
profession , a railroad official cannot be
a recluse , and the active operating offi
cer must mix very much with the pub
lic , from whom he absorbs many popular
fallacies and becomes a sharer with his
follows in much of the indifference
which is manifested in economic ques
tions. While , therefore , in various
ways , the profession practices the most
commendable economy , to increase the
revenues , it has given no attention to a
waste which , while not a source of pres
ent or immediate loss , will prove a
heavy drain in the near future.
The last published report of the Inter
state Commerce Commission is for the
year ended on June SO , 1898 , at which
time the total mileage of all classes of
tracks of the railroads of the United
States is given as 247,582 miles. The
territory covered by this association in
cludes the whole of group III and portions
tions of groups V and VI , of the com
mission classification of railroads , mak
ing about 15 per cent of the nation , or
say 87,000 miles. The total cost for
renewal of crossties in the United
States , during the year ended on June
80 , 1898 , was $24,769,684 , or about $100
per mile ; this does not include labor ,
and is a very low average. Apportion
ing this cost to the territory covered by
this association , the expense was $3,700-
000.
Computed upon the low average of
2,500 ties per mile , 92,500,000 ties are in
the track in the association territory ;
and as the average life of the ties is per
haps about eight years , nearly 12,000,000
ties are required annually for renewals.
The size of the tie is not uniform , but a
common size is six inches thick , eight
inches face , eight feet long , making 82
feet board measure of timber per tie ,
or 880,000,000 feet board measure of
timber annually out into crossties alone
in the association territory. As many
ties are much larger , the gross amount
is actually in excess of the above quan
tity.
Crossties , however , do not constitute
the only lumber consumed by railroads.
There are 28,000 miles of single main
track in the association territory , upon
which at least 80 telegraph poles per
mile are used , or 840,000 poles ; as the
life of a pole is only ten years , 84,000
must be replaced in each year. In addi
tion , bridges , trestles , cars , buildings ,
fences , etc. , take large quantities of
timber , and in the Central association
territory alone , the annual consumption
of lumber , by railroads , , aggregates sev
eral hundred million feet. The quantity
connot be estimated with accuracy as
the roads vary in topography , and the
substitution of iron and stone is being
made as ability permits.
When the territory of the United
States is considered , the quantity of
timber out is astonishing. There are
620,000,000 crossties in the track of the
railroads of the country. Many of these
are soft wood , which lasts from five to
seven years only , so that the average
life of ties throughout the nation cannot
exceed seven years. Nearly 90,000,000
tie's are therefore required annually for
renewals , and at the low average board
measurement already stated , not less
than 8,000,000,000 feet of timber is used
annually for crossties alone. To this
must be added the lumber for bridges ,
buildings , cars , etc. , and the quantity
exceeds our ability to comprehend.
The railroads are not the only users of
lumber , for other people must have
houses , furniture , bridges , conveyances ,
etc. , and this market is greatly in excess
of the railroad purchases. The census
of 1890 states that the total consumption
in that year ( ten years ago ) was 28,766-
000,000 feet.
The necessities of the railroads de
mand that toughness and elasticity shall
distinguish the timber employed , so that
only selected timber can be used. Lum
ber men assert that not to exceed 800
white oak crossties can be cut from one
acre of natural forest , and in many
localities the yield will not exceed 100.
Such trees must be from forty to sixty
years old , and at the highest yield per
acre , 40,000 acres of forest must be
culled of its best timber annually to
supply the ties in the Central association
territory. Where the softer woods are
used the yield per acre is much greater ,
yet it is a conservative estimate that
200,000 acres of forest are cleared every
year to supply the demands for crosstiej
alone.
Railroad officials are deeply interested
in the perpetuity of the material neces
sary for the maintenance and operation
of their property. They are constantly
seeking improved methods to reduce
expenses , knowing that money saved is
money earned. The form of the rail
section and the weight of rail per yard ,
have been scientifically studied and dis
cussed ; the contour of automatic
couplers has had the most minute tech
nical consideration , and in many impor
tant articles of construction and opera
tion , the details have been logically
analyzed , tested , and improved. Within
the experience of many operating offi
cers , the cost of rail renewals exceeded
that of ties many fold ; now the condi
tion has been reversed. While the
quality of rails has been improved , the
renewals exceed the cost of rails , and
are increasing , yet the cause is not being
noted nor any measures being instituted
to remedy or improve the situation.
Timber is becoming scarce , and that of
the best quality , so that inferior timber ,
which supplies inferior ties , is becoming
the sole source of supply. No material
has yet been found as a substitute for
the wooden tie , and no satisfactory eco
nomical method of preserving the life of
the wood or prolonging its durability
has been discovered , and , excepting the
minor questions of properly seasoning
and piling , the use of the tieplate , suit
able ballast and perfect drainage , with
incidentally climatic conditions , no
serious consideration of the future tie
supply has been had.
Nearly all the country included in the
territory of this association has been
settled and developed within a century.
Ohio , the oldest of the states , will not
celebrate its centennial until three years
hence ; and when it was admitted to
statehood it had less than 50,000 inhab
itants. Nearly all the land east of the
prairie regions of the Mississippi valley
was heavily timbered , and in the eastern
states the records preserved show that
fine timber grew to the very edges of
the bays and rivers. If the destruction
of all this wealth , the growth of centu
ries , has been essential for one century's
development , to what degree of distress
will our successors be reduced in main
taining it ? Surely reason will rap the
knuckles of our children , and the sen
tence of Sinai will be fulfilled in visiting
the sins of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation.
The experiments which have been
made , in a very limited manner , in tree-
planting on railroad rights of way have
not been satisfactory , and cannot be on
account of the limited width of such
strips. Forest conditions must prevail ,
and these cannot exist on the right of
way. Trees for timber must have
trunks and not limbs , and to overcome
the natural tendency to make limbs they
must be grown close together , when
each will seek to outgrow its fellows and
reach the higher altitudes , where it can
"expand. " This effort on the part of
each plant is commendable from the
standpoint of the cultivator , and is the
reward for his labor and patience.
Along every railroad are tracts of land
not well adapted to cultivation , which
would make desirable wood lots upon
which trees could be grown for the tim
ber required in the different railroad
departments. Such plantations would
perhaps be more secure if not adjacent
to the road , as fire is an enemy to for
estry ; yet the wood lot need not be so
far as to make access difficult or expen
sive for protection , cultivation and
supervision. Upon a plantation of
catalpas the trees should be placed four
feet apart , which would require 2,700
plants per acre. Not all the 2,700 trees
would mature , nor is it desirable that
they should , but about one-fourth , or
700 , would. In fifteen years the yield
should be four ties per tree , or 2,800 ties
per acre , and by judicious cutting a