678 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



we were then at war. Now the grade paid for by the 

 county is to be used exclusively for the movement of 

 cross-ties. In Western North Carolina peaks and ridges 

 of the Appalachians form a magnificent skyline and, in 

 part, constitute the dividing line between the streams 

 flowing into the Atlantic Ocean and those which make 

 their ways to the Gulf of Mexico. The timber of this 

 section has attained international fame and will be dis- 

 tributed in the 

 form of cross- 

 ties, car tim- 

 bers , bridge- 

 ties, etc., in 

 the war torn 

 count ries of 

 Europe as well 

 as in the United 

 States. The 

 valleys in the 

 West are not 

 so broad as 

 farther east 

 but contain an 

 a b u ndance of 

 fine timber of 

 great size and 

 unusual height. 

 Particularly is 

 this true of 

 the timber re- 

 s o u rces along 

 the streams 

 and in the 

 coves, where 

 the quality is 

 e x c e ptionally 

 good, yielding a high percentage of upper grade stock. 

 The forested tracts are sparsely settled and of the usual 

 cross-roads type, consisting of postoffice, general store, 

 blacksmith shop and a few dwellings of poor construc- 



TYPICAL OF THE TIMBER TO BE CUT FOR CROSS-TIES 



Graham County, North Carolina, these cross-tie 

 as soon as the new rails 



tion. The plans now being prepared for the better 

 housing of the men employed in the mills should prove 

 sufficiently attractive to induce settlers to remain on the 

 land as soon as it is cleared. The Southern Railway 

 has kept close watch over the needs of the industries 

 along its lines and has added materially to the informa- 

 tion necessary to the gigantic development of the natural 

 resources of the South. It serves a large section of the 



lower Appala- 

 c h i a n range, 

 and has two 

 lines across the 

 m o u n t a i ns ; 

 one leaving the 

 main north and 

 south road to 

 Salisbury, 

 North Caro- 

 lina, continuing 

 west through 

 A s h e v i 1 1 e, 

 North Carolina, 

 to a junction 

 with the west- 

 ern, north and 

 south line to 

 H a r r i man 

 Junction, Ten- 

 nessee. This 

 western branch 

 runs south to 

 Knoxville, Ten- 

 nessee. 



With the new 

 rails laid into 

 the heart of 

 the big trees and the many huge mills installed the cross- 

 tie famine will be so reduced that little anxiety on the 

 part of the Railroad Administration will be felt by 

 the end of the year. 



lengths arc ready for stripping and will be shipped 

 are laid into the properties. 



CUT WOOD, SELL IT, BURN IT-HELP SAVE COAL 



'TMIE coal shortage for next winter, estimated by the 

 * Fuel Administration at about 14,000,000 tons, 

 makes it necessary that wood should be used to save both 

 coal and transportation. Country districts and small vil- 

 lages are in position greatly to help coal conservation by 

 burning wood. 



Farmers now use on their farms 883,000,000 cords of 

 fuel wood annually. All farms should use it during the 

 war or emergency periods, officials urge. 



Any kind of coal stove or furnace can be used for 

 burning wood in a pinch. With a careful attention to 

 drafts and grates, the change can be made with little 

 trouble. 



On the average, according to the Forest Service, 

 United States Department of Agriculture, a cord of wood 



is about equal to seven-tenths of a ton of coal. Two cords 

 of soft wood are required to equal a ton of coal, but a 

 cord of wood from a number of well-known kinds of trees 

 will equal a ton of coal in heating value, and for three 

 varieties osage orange, canyon live oak, and black 

 locust a cord has a higher value than a ton of coal. 

 Most of the oaks and hickories, as well as western yew, 

 honey locust, blue gum, sweet birch, and a number of 

 others are the equivalent of nine-tenths of one ton of 

 coal. 



The following have a low heating value, but are ap- 

 proximately equal to one-half a ton of coal : Yellow buck- 

 eye, black cottonwood, basswood, western red cedar, 

 Alpine fir, Englemann spruce, black willow, balsam fir, 

 Sitka spruce, aspen, and white spruce. 



