Mur. 





. ■aw^imi.iiingwy " 



Chestnut Blight and Crossties 



t.lovrji yi-nrn iiijo the rhMtntit lilijjlit wii" iliwovorcil nrnr New 

 York niy. Tbo rn]>iclit,v of iU aprcoil has Utii truly D'ltinrknlilc nii<l 

 Uio coniplptonptn of dcntniction eaUMxl by it hii« no known ]mrnllpl. 

 All p(Turt« to rontrol the diteaM or nsluco itx ilnnuicp have failed 

 and after tho expendituro of large Ruiim uf ninney the enntcrn 

 ■tate.i have had to give up tlie Ught. Tho V. S. Dopiirtment of 

 Ai;ririilture \» |>lnnnin|; to enforce a qunrantino a)>ainNt tho ahip- 

 mcnt of rhestniit nurtiory stock and chestnut timber with linrk at- 

 tached into region!! which arc now nniiife. toil. No one run expect 

 aurh nieanurea to do more than retard itnniewhnt tho spreail of tho 

 didcasc, for birds carr}' tho spores untold distances. 



It is too early to say tliat tho chestnut troo is doomed to extinction 

 for the disease may yet run its course. In a bulletin by Anderson 

 and Rankin of Cornell tho outlook is summed up as follows: "At 

 present we know of notliing that will prevent tho oxtorminution of the 

 American che.itnut tree. Kvery measure of control that Ims boon tried 

 has been abandoned north of West Virginia and tlio Potomac river. 

 Some persons have expressed the belief that nature herself will inter- 

 vrne to prevent destruction of tho species; tho virulence of the 

 pathogono will abate, the resistcncc of Uio host will bo increased, or 

 natural enemies — insects or fungous parasites — will destroy, or at least 

 check, the pathogone. Up to the proi-cnt, however, there has been 

 no indication of relief along any of these linos." 

 New Exoland Gives Up Figut 



Tho people of southern New England where the blight has been 

 particularly severe have become resigned to the situation and for the 

 past two years have been devoting attention to the utilization of the 

 dead and dying trees. The tallest and straightest trees have gone 

 into telegraph and telephone polos; some of the larger logs have 

 been sawed into lumber; an enormous amount has been sawed or 

 hewed into crossties; shingles and cooperage have claimed a share; 

 while ninny thousands of cords have boon cut into wood for the 

 brick and lime kilns, brass factories, and domestic use. But in spite 

 of these measures the waste has been enormous, particularly of the 

 smaller sizes for which there was no market except for cordwood 

 and this was overstocked. 



Chestnut has always been the chief tree of the woodlot in this 

 region. It grew rapidly, reproduced readily from sprouts, and there 

 was always a good market for the material. It has been the princi- 

 pal source of ties for tho New York, New Haven & Hartford rail- 

 road, which until recently has boon able to utilize all of the ties 

 offered. The company does not contract for its tics. Instead it 

 issues its specifications and fixes the prices paid for the different 

 classes of ties. Then everyone is permitted to haul tics to designated 

 places along the right-of-way, and in due time they are inspected 

 and paid for. The market has always been steady and the demand 

 constant so that tie dealers and. lumbermen could figure closely on 

 every operation. The woodlot owner who desired some ready money 

 had only to hew and deliver some ties in order to get it. 

 Alters Tie Markets in New England 



Just now the situation is different. In order to save the dying 

 chestnut timber much of it has been and is being cut into cross- 

 ties. Early in the winter it was plainly evident that the demand 

 was oversupplied and the word was passed around to cease opera- 

 tions. The warning went unheeded for it seemed there was nothing 

 else to do but make the wood into ties. Chestnut and ties are closely 

 associated in the New Englandcr's mind. The New Haven road 

 wanted 1,200,000 ties. It has already taken up most of them and 

 yet the number stacked in the yards along the right-of-way shows no 

 perceptible decrease for as fast as ties have been removed others 

 have been delivered. 



As a result, owners of the ties are wondering what is to be the 

 outcome and if they will be able to dispose of their product. Not 

 only are the regular tie dealers and lumbermen overloaded but 

 nearly every owner of a woodlot has been making ties to save his 

 chestnut timber. These parties are urging the railroad to increase 



—16— 



its purchnsoN and to um it« inllurncc in ilispoping of tho ninleria) 

 to other roads. An choiitiuit is considerod the best native tio tinitwr, 

 owners of red and black oak tioK find no sale for their wnrea. Expcrt- 

 enco huH shown tliat while a good chestnut tio will give six or wvon 

 years' service in track the cmnMion oak ties will Inst only four years. 

 White oak, of course, gives Ijolter rosultii but there i* so littlo 

 offered for ties that it is not kept separate from tho other s|><vi<>s. 



Mow long the chestnut is going to last is a question about which 

 the New Haven rnilroml oflii'ials are now concerned. At a meeting of 

 tlie Luml>or ManufacturerN' Association of Southern New England 

 tliis question was put to the members and variously answered. Homo 

 reported that tho chestnut timber in their localities was commer- 

 cially extinct, while others thought that the disease showed a lessened 

 virulence and that from present indications there would Im' chestnut 

 timber for ten or lifteen yenrc. Tho consensus of opinion, however, 

 was that within four or five years tho chestnut tree which has been 

 tho mainstjiy of tho southern New England forests would bo practi- 

 cally gone. 



FrTURE SorRCE or Tie Si'pplv 



The next question that arose was the source of the New Haven's 

 tio material after the chestnut is gone. Some recent actions of the 

 railway officials had led to the belief that croosoted southern pino 

 ties were to replace local hardwoods. Acting upon this information, 

 the Lumber Manufacturers' A^sociation submitted to tho railway 

 company a report specially prepared by a member of tho faculty 

 of tho Yalo Forest School, which emphasized the advantages both to 

 the railroad and to the territory it served of the preservative treat- 

 ment and use of local timbers. This suggestion was favorably re- 

 ceived and the railroad company 's engineer of tests was instructed to 

 visit a number of timber treating plants and submit a report. Tho 

 plants. of the B. & O., Pennsylvania, Burlington, and others were 

 inspected and the report will soon bo submitted which, it is believed, 

 will recommend the building and operation by the New Haven road 

 of a plant using one of the standard processes. 



Will Treat Locally Grown Ties 



In trying to determine the practicability of treating locally grown 

 ties the company is confronted with the probable supply of suitjible 

 material. What will be especially in demand are red, black or yel- 

 low, and pin oaks. Besides these maple, beech, birch, elm, sycamore, 

 gum and hemlock can be used. While there are no figures available 

 to show the supply of the^e woods, yet all the lumlwr manufacturers 

 agree that there is no end of such material in sight. Whether or 

 not it would bo cut into tics would depend entirely upon tho price 

 the company would be willing to pay. At present many of these 

 woods are of little or no value and their use for ties should open up 

 a new and highly desirable market. R. J. S. 



Figure in Sap Walnut 



Nature played an unkind trick on walnut producers when she 

 provided walnut trees with but a thin layer of sap and at the same 

 time put most of tho figure into that particular section of tho log. 

 The physical qualities of sap w.alnut are, of course, in no way objec- 

 tionable to consumers. It is simply the fact that using tho sap with 

 the heart presents an almost impassable obstacle. This is an un- 

 fortunate fact, but it is a fact nevertheless, and until somo means are 

 provided for evening up the colors of the two sections it will never 

 be possible to secure for figured sap walnut what it really should 

 bring. 



Some attempts have been made to color the sap with the juice 

 stain coming from steaming the dark heart, but these efforts have been 

 unsuccessful for a very apparent reason. They never will bo success- 

 ful because the substances which make the stain in the dark wood 

 are not dark until they come in contact with the air. This in itself 

 effects a chomif-al change, which, in turn, makes it impossible to 

 utilize this fluid for the purpose of staining the sap to the original 

 color of the dark wood. 



