Nezvs and' Notes. 355 



disposed to purchase American ties. The replies are rather inter- 

 esting as indicating the willingness on the part of the French rail- 

 roads to purchase American ties under certain conditions, one of 

 these being that they be delivered free on cars, duty paid, at some 

 terminal port or at some distributing point on their respective lines. 

 The French State railways have, as a rule, used ties of domestic 

 origin, but recently purchases have been made of "Baltic redwood" 

 and Black Sea beech ties. In accepting foreign ties, it is usually 

 specified that the place of origin of the species shall be given ; 

 that the wood shall be cut only after the growing season ; that the 

 approximate age of the trees, the method of cutting the ties — 

 whether two or four per log section — and the proportion and dis- 

 tribution of sapwood and heartwood be given; that ties in which 

 sapwood predominates are preferred, for the reason that they can 

 be given preservative treatment more readily ; and in the case of 

 beech, the individual trees which have red heartwood or cannot 

 be easily injected will be refused. There are several reasons why 

 it is not likely that American dealers will attempt to export ties to 

 France. One of the first is that it would be quite out of the ques- 

 tion for an American lumberman to approximate the age of the 

 trees, or even in many cases to assure an approximate percentage 

 of sapwood. In the matter of prices, there seems to be a discrep- 

 ancy between the statement by the Paris-Lyon Mediterranean 

 Company that it will not consider quotations exceeding $1.18 per 

 tie, and an article in the "Timber Trades Journal" to the effect 

 that the above railroad purchased its tie supply for the year 1908 

 on the basis of 86.8 cents each for oak ties and 67.5 cents each for 

 beech ties. If ties can be procured in France at the above cost, 

 there would certainly be no incentive for American dealers to ex- 

 port timber to that country, as the prices at home would be more 

 than they could hope to receive for ties delivered at French ports. 

 Beech ties cut in eastern Pennsylvania, for instance, are quoted at 

 82 cents, whereas white oak ties from the South cannot be de- 

 livered at Pittsburgh or Philadelphia for less than 85 or 90 cents. 

 It becomes apparent, therefore, that the crisis which American 

 railroads are facing in regard to tie supply is already at hand, and 

 that the use of untreated ties without tie plates is no longer justi- 

 fied on account of low initial cost. Yet in Canada, notably Quebec, 

 the price for cross ties this year is 10 cents lower than last year, 

 30 cents buying first class cedar ties. 



