250 



THE FORESTER. 



October, 



ago that experiments might profitably be 

 made in supplying such wants by means 

 of tree planting, an expedient that if 

 shown to be practicable, would relieve 

 our forests of some important demands. 

 A few railroads have already made some 

 efforts to grow timber for ties, though 

 with but indifferent success, but beyond 

 this nothing noteworthy has been at- 

 tempted, altogether nothing practical ac- 

 complished. One railroad now has some 

 experiments of the kind in progress, and 

 with the more skillful handling they are 

 likely to receive, it would not be surprising 

 if something should come of them. The 

 failure of two or three companies to raise 

 Catalpa ties does not prove anything, as it 

 is quite likely the experiments were not 

 conducted in a way and under conditions 

 to produce conclusive results. 



" The results of tree cultivation under 

 favorable conditions, which were em- 

 bodied in a recent article in these columns, 

 goes to show that wood available for such 

 purposes as railroad ties, fence posts and 

 pulpwood, and no doubt for many other 

 purposes requiring only comparatively 

 small sizes of timber, can be produced 

 within a time that will make them readily 

 available for helping out the present sup- 

 ply. The case referred to seemed to show 

 that railroad ties could be grown from the 

 seed under favorable conditions in from 

 sixteen to twenty years, during which time 

 the land used would yield enough to pay 

 a good share of the cost in cuttings re- 

 quired to keep the plantation in proper 

 shape. If anything like the yield secured 

 in the particular case mentioned could 

 be counted upon railroad ties could be 

 produced by cultivation as cheaply as they 

 can now be made from trees already 

 L;T<>wn. The tie requirement is so large 

 and so little real progress appears to be 

 making in replacing the wooden tie with 

 one of metal, that the question of a 

 supply of such timber as they require is 

 likely to become a very important one in 

 the near future. 



"It is equally necessary that some 

 source should be found for a supply of 

 wood pulp material, which now calls for 

 the clearing of about as much good forest 



land as the lumber business. Where can 

 it be found, if not in the cultivation of 

 woods for this special purpose ? The 

 wood-pulp industry is bound to grow, and 

 it is most undesirable that anything should 

 be done to restrict it ; but if no provision 

 is made for a supply of raw material, it 

 will use up, and is now using up, a large 

 proportion of our lumber supply. But as 

 the pulp mills need wood fiber rather than 

 lumber, there ought to be a good chance 

 for them to get it without grinding up saw 

 logs. Proper experiments would doubt- 

 less show that there is some variety of 

 wood, susceptible of easy cultivation, 

 and of rapid growth, that in a few years 

 would yield such a quantity of pulp wood 

 as should make its cultivation for this par- 

 ticular purpose a practical and profitable 

 operation. There seems to be no reason 

 why this should not furnish a solution of 

 the pulp supply problem, whenever that 

 question gets to a point where a solution 

 of it must be found. 



" One can readily see that the beginning 

 of tree cultivation must be with those 

 woods that are easily grown, and that will 

 supply wants that may be met with such 

 varieties. The cultivation of those of 

 slower growth, but of larger use and wider 

 value will follow. The largest consumers 

 take the less valuable kinds, as a rule, and 

 some of these could use sorts inferior in 

 many respects to those they commonly 

 employ, if such were to be had at lower 

 cost. Take the box-makers for example. 

 They use the poorest lumber they can find 

 now, yet their requirements are mainly 

 met with lumber that comes from large 

 trees in many cases, in fact, with lumber 

 that might be used for purposes for which 

 such narrow, low grade stuff as will do 

 for boxes would not answer. The box 

 people do not need wide lumber, nor long 

 lumber; they can get along with almost 

 anything that will hold together, and could 

 as well use the product of a plantation 

 which could not supply anything above six 

 inches wide as the lumber from a forest 

 of giants. Other purposes will suggest 

 themselves, 'for which narrow stock, of 

 comparatibely few years' growth would 

 answer as well as lumber wide enough for 



