G30 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



In Forest Service Bulletin No. 78 it 

 is stated that "Nearly ten billion feet 

 board measure of structural timber are 

 destroyed each year in the United 

 States. * * * If all the timber were 

 treated which it is practicable to treat, 

 and which could be treated at a profit, 

 nearly six billion feet board measure, 

 or over sixty per cent, could be saved. 

 This saving would represent the annual 

 growth on twenty million acres of well- 

 stocked timber land." In cross-ties 

 alone, the Government estimates that 

 proper preservative treatment would re- 

 duce the annual cut to the extent of 

 nearly GO, 000, 000 ties per year, which 

 is the equivalent of two billion board 

 feet. 



The first w^ood-preserving plant in 

 this country of which there is record 

 was built at Lowell, Mass., in 1848; 

 while the first railroad plant was erected 

 by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad 

 at West Pascagoula, Miss., in 1876. 

 Between these dates and the late 80's 

 there was little development. In 1900 

 there were only eleven plants in opera- 

 tion, but by the end of 1911 the num- 

 ber had grown to one hundred and one. 

 Of these twenty-four are owned and 

 operated by railroad companies, while 

 the remainder do a general commercial 

 business in the treatment of a large 

 variety of timbers. 



The capital invested in these plants 

 is certainly not less than $10,000,000. 

 while the value of the wood material 

 carried in stock for seasoning would 

 run into many more millions of dollars. 

 The initial cost of the plants, however, 

 is comparatively low, considering the 

 enormous volume of material handled 

 and its cost value when treated. A 

 $100,000 plant, for example, will treat 

 each year material worth from one-half 

 to three-quarter million dollars. On the 

 basis of the output of treated timber 

 in 1910, which are the latest figures 

 available, the value of the cross-ties, 

 lumber, poles, and other timbers which 

 received treatment approximated $35.- 

 000.000. 



Great as has been the progress in 

 preservative treatment, a large per- 

 centage of the timber is still used in 

 its natural state. The industrv has been 



built up largely on railroad cross-ties ; 

 yet, out of the 148,000,000 used in 1910. 

 only 30,000,000, or about 21 per cent, 

 received preservative treatment. This, 

 however, is an increase of 275 per cent 

 over the number treated in 1905. Dur- 

 ing the same year 133,000,000 board 

 feet of lumber and timber were treated, 

 which represents less than one-third of 

 one per cent of the total consumption. 

 The total output of all kinds of treated 

 material in 1911 amounted to slightlv 

 over 110,372,000 cubic feet, which is 

 over 500 per cent more than was treated 

 in 1904. 



It is very difficult to appreciate ex- 

 actly what cross-ties and lumber, when 

 stated in units of millions, mean in 

 terms of volume. Some idea may be 

 gained if we consider that the 30,000,- 

 000 ties treated in 1910 would, if piled 

 20 ties high, according to the usual ar- 

 rangement in a treating plant yard, 

 cover an area of over 600 acres, or 

 practically a square mile. If laid one 

 deep side by side, these same ties would 

 cover 10,000 acres with a solid wooden 

 floor the full thickness of the ties. 



It certainly must pay to inject timber 

 with preservatives, or the railroads and 

 other commercial concerns would not 

 undertake it. The theory, which is very 

 old, has become an established practice 

 of unquestioned merit. Owing to the 

 comparatively short time treated timber 

 has been used in this country, and the 

 long time required to get results from 

 service tests, many of our conclusions 

 are based on European results. We 

 have, however, records in this countrv 

 of creosoted piling resisting teredo and 

 decay for twenty-five and thirty vears 

 in waters which would destroy un- 

 treated timber in a few years ; while 

 many treated cross-ties have been in 

 track ten to fifteen years without signs 

 of deterioration. In France, an average 

 life of about twenty-eight years is ob- 

 tained from creosoted beech ties, which 

 would not last over four years, un- 

 treated. 



Ex])erimental preservation of woods 

 was attempted in England more than 

 one hundred years ago, and commercial 

 treatment of timber has been practiced 

 in Europe for over fifty years. Out of 



