PAPERS ON GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY 387 



level ; these countries are industrially stagnant : but in- 

 dustrially active countries such as England and Germany 

 are great wood consumers. We must not consume less at 

 the expense of useful industries. We can substitute other 

 materials for wood, such as cement for water-troughs 

 and piling, steel for bridges, implement frames and 

 tongues. Galesburg 's shale is being converted into pav- 

 ing bricks which are taking the place of wood blocks in 

 her own streets and in the main streets between here 

 and Panama, where a large consignment of Galesburg 

 brick was used. But with all the substitution, important 

 as it is, the saving affected is estimated by TV. B. Greeley 

 at only 150,000,000 cubic feet or about one-half of one 

 per cent of the drain upon lumber. We can, by preserva- 

 tive treatment, effect the largest saving as indicated 

 above. This saving of lumber is secured mainly along 

 two lines, first by increasing the average life of timber 

 four or five times, secondly by allowing the use of inferior 

 woods, such as rapidly growing cotton wood, as railway 

 cross ties in place of slower-growing relatively-important 

 white oak. 



Preservation was secured in the old days by applying 

 tar to the outside surface with a brush. Nowadays, the 

 same material is utilized in the form of creosote oil, a 

 coal tar product forced into the wood under pressure and 

 at a high temperature and made to penetrate into the 

 heart-wood of the tie or pile, thus lengthening the life of 

 the timber which is equivalent to increasing the visible 

 supply. The following treatments are used at the Bur- 

 lington Tie Plant, Galesburg, Illinois : 



First : Straight Creosote 



Second: Card Process (zinc chloride and creosote) 



Third: Bumettizing Process (zinc chloride) 



Mr. J. R. Waterman, Superintendent of timber pres- 

 ervation for the Burlington Road, recommends the first 

 or creosoting process as being the most effective, but 

 because of the lessened cost he recommends the card pro- 

 cess, from an economical stand point. The relative 

 merits of the above processes are submitted below from 

 data compiled by Mr. Waterman, 



