i 62 transactions of royal scottish arboricultural society. 



Douglas Fir for Railway Sleepers. 



The following extract from a communication of the Chief 

 Engineer of one of the great American Railway Companies 

 is of considerable interest in this country, where experiments 

 have already indicated that home-grown Douglas fir possesses 

 in a high degree the necessary technical qualities to justify its 

 use for railway sleepers : — 



"The life of sleepers in Douglas fir is about eight years, but 

 this figure may vary considerably according to local conditions 

 and the moisture and nature of the soil. Douglas fir has 

 a carrying strength of 5000 to 8000 livres (pounds) the square 

 inch. The elastic modulus is about 1,600,000 square inches. 



" Where traffic is considerable we find it necessary to ■ use 

 iron wedges ("coussinets ") under the rails. This wood holds 

 the iron bolts solidly and is easily worked. 



"We generally treat it by the 'zinc chloride' process which 

 adds from two to three years to the life of the sleeper. I have 

 never seen a sleeper perish after having been so treated. 

 Life of sleepers so dealt with is only terminated by mechanical 

 wear and tear. Douglas fir wood may be treated by the zinc 

 chloride process or by other salts of a like nature, but it cannot 

 well be treated with creosote though one may obtain good 

 results if the process is very carefully carried through. 



" Taking into consideration the enormous quantity of Douglas 

 fir in our locality this is the only kind of wood we use for 

 making the railroad, and, generally speaking, the results are 

 perfectly satisfactory, looking to the price and lasting qualities 

 of the wood." 



Forestry in Western Australia. 



The Report of the Woods and Forest Department of Western 

 Australia, for the half-year ended 30th June 1918, which has 

 been recently published, brings out incidentally some curious 

 indirect effects of war conditions. In the Commonwealth, as a 

 whole, the timber industry during the period was in a depressed 

 condition, the Eastern States especially suffering from the lack 

 of imported timber from America, owing to the shortage of 

 ships. But this has led to a better demand for Western 

 Australian timbers in South Australia and Victoria. In South 



