FORESTRY. 169 



A number of railroads have been planting forest trees to 

 serve as a source of supply for ties. 



PROBLEMS. 



1. The average number of ties per mile used by the railroads in 

 the United States is 3,000. The average life of ties is about 6 years; 

 the average cost of ties is about 30 cents. The number of miles of rail- 

 road in the United States is 250,000; what is the average cost of ties for 

 the railroads of the United States annually? 



2. In 1911 one eastern railroad had planted 2,950 acres to locust, 

 red oak, Scotch pine, European larch, Norway spruce, catalpa, pin oak, 

 white pine, black walnut, and some other species making in all 4,617,626 

 trees. When these trees have reached a size sufficient to produce three 

 ties per tree, how many miles of railroad will they supply in ties at 

 3,000 ties per mile? 



It is therefore very evident that the tie problem has become a 

 problem of great interest to the railroads and that it may be of great con- 

 cern as well as profit to the forester. 



The need of farm buildings on the average farm, the high 

 cost of material and timber are already becoming serious prob- 

 lems in agriculture. 



It has been said truthfully, "We produce wealth with waste- 

 ful painfulness, and we destroy it with reckless prodigality". 

 Our forest resources have certainly been wastefully and reck- 

 lessly destroyed. 



3. The average value of houses, barns and other buildings per farm 

 in the United States is about $1,000. The average barn such as is 

 needed for the economical management of a farm of today cannot be built 

 for less than $1,000. If there are 6 million farms in the United States 

 and $500 were to be expended in lumber for better buildings per farm, 

 what would be the value of the lumber needed for this item alone? 



PROBLEMS. 



1. If the billion posts and rails used annually are valued on an 

 average at lOc apiece, what is the total annual cost of this timber for 

 building fences? 



2. It has been estimated that this billion posts and rails are the 

 equivalent of 6 billion board feet; if the total value of this lumber i? 

 estimated at $100,000,000 what is the value per M.? 



