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ARBORICULTURE 



The Pennsylvania Railway's Experiment, 



A recent number of the Chronicle, Chi- 

 cago, has a lengthy article upon the for- 

 est project of the Pennsylvania Railway 

 Company. As this has been copied ex- 

 tensively by the press, it seems timely to 

 discuss the subject in connection with 

 other items regarding wood for cross ties. 

 We copy a portion of the Chronicle's story : 



"For several years the railroads have 

 been confronted by a shortage of wooden 

 ties and the problem has grown so serious 

 that many of the roads have discussed the 

 matter in their annual reports. The for- 

 estry commission has complained that the 

 destruction of the forests of the country 

 has resulted in drouths and various organ- 

 izations have insisted that the forests be 

 preserved, but at the same time they have 

 failed to show the railroads engaged in 

 extending and improving their lines how 

 they can get necessary material without 

 destroying the trees. 



SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM. 



*'The Pennsylvania system, through the 

 officials of its construction department, 

 believes that it has solved the problem 

 and the planting of 50,000 young locust 

 trees will be commenced early this fall. 

 Some experimental work has been done 

 along the middle division and the results 

 have been so favorable that the work will 

 be carried on on a larger scale. Several 

 thousand trees are already in flourishing 

 condition on the line between New York 

 and Pittsburg and the company is prepar- 

 ing to surprise its competitors by utilizing 

 additional tracts for timber culture. 



"In purchasing the right of way the 

 company was obliged to take possession of 

 more land than was absolutely necessary 

 for its use and this was leased for agricul- 

 tural purposes. A great deal of the prop- 

 erty is now in use as farms, but where it 

 has been found that the land is suitable 

 for the cultivation of the locust it is the 

 intention of the company to terminate the 

 leases which are now in force. The pres- 

 ent experiment will be continued from 

 year to year by the planting of additional 

 trees and it is expected that the project 



will relieve the company of much of the 

 delay and at times total inability to pro- 

 cure material for ties. While locust is 

 not the best wood procurable for this pur- 

 pose, the company figures that its supply 

 will make it possible to replace old ties 

 whenever they are found to be imperfect. 

 In addition to this the company will need 

 large quantities of wood for posts and oth- 

 er uses and these will be supplied from 

 the locust forests owned by the corpora- 

 tion." 



In J. Sterling Morton's Conservative 

 some three years ago the editor of Arbor- 

 iculture had a lengthy article in favor 

 of the black locust — Robinia pseudacacia — 

 recommending the farmers of the west to 

 plant it for fence posts. At various times 

 during the past forty years he has pre- 

 sented the subject to the public as of im- 

 portance for the consideration of farmers. 

 The history, character and value of the 

 locust is well known to Arboriculture, 

 but when a company proposes to grow lo- 

 cust for ties it will learn by experience what 

 ought to be known to them by observation 

 without the necessity of costly experiment. 



The locust is indigenous to the Alle- 

 gheny and Blue Ridge Mountain regions. 

 There are hundreds of square miles in 

 the rougher portions of those mountains, 

 and upon rough, rocky hills all over the 

 country, which are more suitable for lo- 

 cust thickets than for cultivation or for 

 any other timber growth. It is a valuable 

 wood for fence posts. Young, sappy 

 wood is not lasting, but matured timber is 

 of very great duration. 



The locust has a habit of growing in 

 folds, the annual growths overlapping and 

 thus does not form a smooth, solid trunk, 

 as do other trees. In sawing into timber 

 the portions fall apart and cannot be made 

 into boards. The wood splits readily and 

 is thus preferred for working into split 

 posts. If locust is used for ties the holes 

 must be bored. A spike cannot be driven 

 into seasoned wood unless a hole has been 

 previously bored. When a spike (or 

 nail) is once driven into locust, and the 

 wood seasoned, it will break off, but can 



