148 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



supply scarcer and prices higher. Mr. J. Hope Sutor, general manager 

 of the Ohio and Little Kanawha Railroad, after giving the matter care- 

 ful consideration, estimates the value of a cross-tie fifteen years hence 

 at 75 cents. Mr. Sutor also says u no material has yet been found as 

 a substitute for the wooden tie, and no satisfactory economical method 

 of preserving the life of the wood or prolonging its durability has yet 

 been discovered; and, excepting the minor questions of properly season- 

 ing and piling, the use of the tie plate, suitable ballast and perfect 

 drainage, and incidentally climatic conditions, no serious consideration 

 of the future tie supply has yet been had." 1 



What is here said of cross-ties is true of all other timbers used in 

 contact with the ground. While no metallic su bstitute has been found, 

 their durability has not been greatly prolonged. The use of these 

 materials must continue and will grow rather than diminish. Mr. 

 Sutor's estimate of 75 cents for a cross-tie fifteen years in the future 

 allows for an increase of about 50 per cent over present prices. This 

 is a conservative estimate, and it is not unlikely that posts will increase 

 as much and telegraph poles much more in that time. 



From every reasonable point of view, it appears that great profits 

 are to be made in the growing of forest trees in the next twenty -five 

 years. Every condition is so favorable that the matter passes from 

 probability to certainty. That operations should begin in the Middle 

 West rather than in other regions is due to the fact that there the 

 most favorable conditions exist; there the supply of natural products 

 is most nearly exhausted, prices are highest, soil most fertile, and peo- 

 ple most familiar with the processes of developing plantations. Opera- 

 tions will not progress far in that region before they begin in regions 

 of the extreme East and W r est. 



SPHERE OF GENERAL PLANTING. 



It is necessary in this connection to point out the purposes for which 

 timber may be grown, the sections for successful operations, and the 

 extent to which planting may safely be carried. While it is easy to 

 go from fact to assumption on such a theme, yet the argument goes no 

 further than to cover such simple operations as we may be positive 

 about, in regions of which we have personal acquaintance. 



PURPOSES FOR WHICH TIMBER MAY BE GROWN. 



FENCE POSTS. The timbers best suited for this purpose are Osage 

 Orange, Locust, Hardy Catalpa, Red Juniper, Mulberry, Black 

 Walnut, Oak, and Ash. 



Osage Orange posts have been obtained from native timber and from 

 old hedge rows, mostly from the latter source. This tree has been used 



Address delivered at the July meeting of the Central Association of Railroad Offi- 

 cers at Louisville, Ky., and published in the Railway Age, July 27, 1900. 



