210 



.ixoue niid all iirodnctive power is lost."' Ami fui-thoi- Cnlliertsou'" says that 

 in .southcastc'i-ii Iiidiaiui "coutrary to what mi.irht have been supposed, a 

 larger per ctnt. of the steep hill slopes has been cleared than the laud of 

 the more le\el regions." In such a case as this just the reverse method 

 of clearing the forests as to location should have been followed for reasons 

 aboA'e stated. 



One of the ways in wliieh largo amounts of forest trees are destroyed 

 is for railroad ties, and enormous numbers uf them are re(iuired. Rrisbie'' 

 states that "to build 71,000 miles of railway required 1S4.(U)0,(>()0 ties. Ties 

 have to be replaced every seven years. As (>very (uie knows, railmad ties 

 are cut from young limber, the trees being from eight to twenty inches in 

 diameter, and this demand strilvcs at the very source of our timlicr supply." 

 "The number of cross-ties in use on the railroads of the T'nited States is 

 estimated to l)e about 02(».(MHi,(Mi(»; tlic ninubcr used annually lor repairs 

 and for extensions of track is estimated to be from ;)0.0t)(».(MKi to 110,000,- 

 000, I'c'.iuii ing. we may say. tlie entire iirodud of -JOO.OOO acres of woodland 

 annually."'" So rapid has been the consumi)tion of timbei- for tii's and the 

 exhaustion of the sui))>ly so a))parent that some years ago the Pennsylvania 

 R:ulroad Conipaiiy be^an to plant t i-ees from which later on to get its ties. 

 For railroads to do this is a rather late plan. Notwithstanding some views 

 to the contrary, ii-on ties ought to l)e used and prol>ably will be used in the 

 future. About the yeai- isss the fences of the ruited States were valued 

 at "$2,000,000,0(X)." "and if cost then ".$100,000,000 annually to keep them 

 in repair."'" Tliese and otlier c;iuses aside from lumbering show the waste 

 of timber wiiich yeai-s ago coidd have been practically prevented by the 

 use of otlier and better materials. In most instances if the timber removed 

 from tile Linil and wasted were now availnlile it would exceed in value that 

 of the land. 



In 1!)0!) there were 4S,112" saw mills being operated in the I'nitcMl 

 States. Of these in 1010 there were l,o41" in Indiana. These nulls vary 

 much as to capacity, but the daily output of all is enormous. Timl)er is 

 today 1)eing cut into hunber that a quartei- of a centmT ago in Indiana 

 would in many cases have Ix-eii i-ejected ;is fuel. Tn additi<m wi' liave In 



'"Cjlbertson, (ilenn. 1. f., p. 03. 



" Brisbie, James S. Trees smd Trees- PlantinK. 1888, p. >.). 



'» Fifth Annual Report of ttie State Board of Forestry. U)0.5, p. 20:). 



'» Brisbie, James S., 1. c, p. 0. 



™ Elliott, Simon B. The Important Timber Trees of the United States, 1912, p. 10. 



^' .'\inorican Foro<trv, 1913. 



