Southern Railway. Mr. Wheeler in- 

 formed me that when he began service 

 with this company he found thousands of 

 Catalpa ties in the track where they had 

 been since the track was laid, some eight 

 years earlier. He had first laid fifty-two 

 pound rail on these ties. When that was 

 renewed he found many of these ties fit 

 for further service, and laid the new fifty- 

 six pound rail on them. And when re- 

 newing recently with seventy-five pound 

 rail, a few were still found serviceable 

 and remain in the tracks under the new 

 rail, where he can identify them at any 

 time. The old ties were taken out be- 

 cause they were too thin for the large 

 spikes now used, but not one was rotten 

 or broken. He lays particular stress upon 

 the fact that he has never seen a broken 

 Catalpa tie, while many of the oak ties 

 were found to be broken when taken out 

 He says that they hold the spike very 

 well, and are not decayed or broken away 

 from corrosion where the metal comes in 

 contact with the wood. 



Mr. Wheeler can also point out many 

 telegraph poles still in good condition 

 where thev have been since the line was 

 built. 



Many prominent railroad men have en- 

 tire confidence in Mr. Brown, and faith 

 in his methods, among whom I will men- 

 tion Mr. Fish, President of the Illinois 

 Central, Mr. Smithy President of the 

 Louisville and Nashville, and Mr. Kitt- 

 redge. Chief Engineer of the Big Four, 

 all of whom have had plantations started 

 on lands belonging to their respective 

 companies. 



The Illinois Central has the Harahan 

 plantation of two hundred and fifty acres 

 near New Orleans, and also a plantation 

 of two hundred acres at Duquoin, 111. 



The Louisville and Nashville has estab- 

 lished a large plantation near Pensacola, 

 Fla. ; another at Newport, Ky., near the 

 mouth of the Licking River ; one at 



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CATAI.PA SPECTOSA, NATURAL GROWTH. 



