338 



ARBORICULTURE. 



THiE UNANSWERABLE QUERY. 



(By Hon. W. G. M. Stone, President Colorado 

 Forestry Association, in Western World.) 

 Early in April a letter from the Port Ed- 

 wards Fibre Company, addressed to the 

 State Forest Commissioner of Colorado, was 

 received 'by tlie State Forestry Association 

 saying that they understood considerable 

 work in Forestry had been done in our state 

 and that they would like a copy of the last 

 report, and also copies of all future reports. 

 They were informed that Colorado had 

 no forest commission; that the state was 

 giving no time or attention to Forestry, and 

 was spending no money on such matters. 



In due time a reply came saying: "If there 

 ever was a state which needed to take up 

 the protection of its timber and the conserv- 

 ing of the sources of supply of its streams, 

 it certainly is the State of Colorado." 



Not satisfied with the report received, they 

 wrote at once to the Governor's office for 

 further information; this was referred to 

 the Association for attention. In response 

 they were reassured of the utter indifference 

 of the state to the subject of Forestry, but 

 were told in glowing terms what the govern- 

 ment is doing within the state, and also 

 what tihe State Agricultural College is doing. 



In response we receive this information: 

 "We are large users of tim'ber products, and 

 are exceedingly interested in all matters of 

 this kind." 



Mark their words: "Exceedingly interestel 

 in all matters of this kind." There is the 

 milk— in this cocoa-nut shell! Timber is 

 growing scarce and they are going over the 

 country to see what interest the states are 

 taking in Forestry. Being large users of 

 timber products the question is: Where are 

 their supplies to come from? 



The lead pencil people, as we have seen. 

 are wondering W'liere their red cedar is to 

 come from. Cooperage firms are craning 

 their necks to see where they can get white 

 oak staves for their shops; railroads are ran- 

 sacking the forests of the South for ties: 

 furniture factories are reaching farther and 

 farther for something to meet the demand 

 upon them. 



The Pennsylvania railway, In view of the 

 growing scarcity of timber said: "We'll try 

 steel ties," and laid several miles, as an ex 

 ))eriment. Their recent appalling disastei 

 occurred on the very spot where these ties 

 were laid, and it is charged that, in some 

 mysterious way, they caused it. Whether 

 or not the steel tie is responsible, the com- 

 pany replaced them with white oak. 



For a railroad tie there is nothing so 

 good or safe as wood. But the roads must 

 have 100,000,000 cross ties annually for re 

 pairs alone, and so scarce is timber becoming 

 that it is extremely diflBcult to secure enough 

 for this purpose. From what source theii 

 supply is to come in even less than ten years 



no mortal can tell; and this query is the 

 worry of all manufacturers and "large users 

 of timber products." 



Note.- — 'Since the above was written the 

 following important item, apropos thereto, 

 comes over the wires to the public press; 



Pittsburg, Pa., May 19. — The Pennsylva- 

 nia railroad announces here that it has de 

 cided to plant 20,000 acres of ground at the 

 foot of Alleghany mountains in tie lumber. 



The steel tie will not do, it says. The 

 wooden tie must be perpetuated, and wit)h 

 alarm the big railroad system has viewed 

 the passing of available tie-making trees 

 from the forests and it is announced that 

 tie-growing on a scale never before thought 

 of will be started at once. 



It will be forty years before the trees now 

 to be planted will be available for the first 

 crop of ties, but the railroad has decided 

 that it must look that far ahead, and with 

 this object in view Assistant United States 

 Forester E. A. Sterling has been lifted from 

 Washington and employed by the Pennsyl- 

 vania road to do nothing else but look after 

 the tie-growing industry of the system. 



so; IfOTTEX TIES IX A MILE. 



KAXJ^AS it.VILliO.V!) COMMISSIOXEII IX- 



srix'Ts :mi!ssoui;i pacific tkacks. 



Hutchinson, Kas., June 29. — Railroad Com- 

 missioner Charles A. Ryker, of Atchison, and 

 a representative of the press walked over the 

 Missouri Pacific tracks between Hutchinson 

 aaid Yaggy, the first station west of here. In 

 one mile, between mile posts Nos. 48 and 49, 

 8T)7 rotten, broken and weakened ties were 

 found in the track. In one rail length there 

 were nine bad ties out of seventeen, and 

 Riundreds of spikes could be pulled out on a 

 mile of track. 



Commissioner Ryker walked over some of 

 the Missouri Pacific tracks near Anthony, on 

 the Kiowa division, yesterday, and found 

 conditions worse than on the Hutchinson di- 

 vision — two or three ties out of five being 

 bad. 



Ryker says the roadbeds of both this and 

 the Kiowa divisions are very unsafe for 

 heavy tonnage or for rapid movemient of 

 trains. 



The straits to which nuaiiy railways have 

 come for timber and' cross-ties may be seen 

 by the above press dispatch recently gent 

 to all daily papers. 



Still the railways can not see the abso> 

 lute necessity of preparing for a cross-tii? 

 famine which Avill catch all the railway.^ 

 before thev realize it. 



