2l6 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



May, 



sively for railroad ties, for which it is 

 even better than White Oak if cut under 

 equally good conditions, as could be 

 shown b}' some experiments reported on 

 by the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. 

 Louis Railway. When the Tennessee 

 Central Railway was being built I was 

 amazed to find out that the cross-tie 

 buyer for the contractors knew nothing 

 about the value of chestnut-oak cross-ties 

 and would not accept them. According 

 to the U. S. Department of Agriculture 

 (see Yearbook of the Department for 

 1900, p. 148), Mr. J.HopeSutor, general 

 manager of the Ohio and Little Ka- 

 nawha Railroad, after giving the mat- 

 ter careful consideration, estimates the 

 value of a cross-tie fifteen years hence 

 at 75 cents. Mr. Sutor also says " No 

 material has yet been found as a sub- 

 stitute for the wooden tie, and no satis- 

 factory economical method of prescrib- 

 ing the life of the wood or prolonging 

 its durability has yet been discovered, 

 and excepting the minor qualities of 

 properly seasoning and piling, the use 

 of the tie-plate, suitable ballast and per- 

 fect drainage, and incidentally climatic 

 conditions, no serious consideration of 

 the tie supply has 3^et been had." If 

 the above supposition is correct, is it not 

 worth while for the large railwa}^ cor- 

 porations of this state to look further 

 into this matter, as the outlook for the 

 future is clearly toward heavier rails 

 and rolling stock, which will make it 

 necessary to use more and better ties, 

 both for economy and safety. 



Before leaving the question of the 

 amount of Chestnut Oak needed for the 

 tanning industry, it should be said that 

 Mr. M. V. Richards, the land and in- 

 dustrial agent of the Southern Railway 

 Company, writes that " the indications 

 are that other tanneries will be estab- 

 lished along this railway in the near 

 future. At present a large proportion 

 of the timber from which the chestnut- 

 oak bark has been taken is now going 

 to waste, but we are cooperating with 

 timber-land owners in finding markets 

 for this low-grade lumber. ' ' 



M3' estimate, as before given, of the 

 amount of Chestnut Oak used for tan- 

 ning in this state does not include what 

 is used for making extract. This is a 



large and growing industry, but I am 

 not now able to give any figures regard- 

 ing it. There is a difference of opinion 

 as to whether the supply of chestnut- 

 oak bark is likely to be seriously re- 

 duced below the growing wants of the 

 southern tanners, but, at any rate, it is 

 not best to continue the present waste 

 of such a large proportion of the timber 

 if anything can be done to avoid it. 



There are also other matters which 

 may possibly be worthy of attention as 

 affording some revenue for the owners 

 of forest lands, and in such a way as 

 not to injure the future of our forests. 

 In The Forester for June, 1900, there 

 was an article on " The Paper Industry 

 and Forests," contribvited by Mr. C. W. 

 Lyman, of the International Paper Com- 

 pany. According to the figures given 

 by him for the year 1899, the pulp in- 

 dustry of the United States was con- 

 suming daily 6,648 cordsof wood, which 

 would approximate an annual consump- 

 tion of 955,400,000 feet, b. m. This 

 may seem like a large amount, but Mr. 

 Lyman shows in his paper that it is less 

 than one-half of i per cent of the total 

 wood used for other purposes. The 

 paper pulp industry does not yet seem 

 to be established in the southern states, 

 as the figures given by Mr. Lyman for 

 1899 show only 8 small mills south of 

 the Ohio River and the Virginia and 

 West Virginia lines, with a total daily 

 capacity of but 26 cords. Of these 8 

 mills, only one was then given as located 

 in this state, and it had a daily capacity 

 of only two tons. It is very probable 

 that this industry might be very largely 

 increased in our state and with positive 

 benefit to our forests. In the State of 

 New York, which had 100 mills, con- 

 suming over 2,300 cords of wood a day, 

 the material used is largely the tops of 

 Spruce. The removal of these tops 

 from the forest tends to reduce the dam- 

 age from fires, and is therefore of use 

 from the standpoint of practical forestry. 



I do not know anything about the 

 amount of Spruce in this state, but the 

 Hemlock (locally called Spruce Pine) 

 .seems to be a softer and finer-grained 

 wood than the Northern Hemlock, and 

 it is possible that it might be used to 

 good advantage in making wood pulp. 



