1 904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



473 



of the sand land of southwestern Kansas 

 seems to be admirably suited for the 

 growth of these trees. The black locust 

 is one of the best trees to plant in any 

 part of the state if it was not foj the 

 attack of the borer, though in some 

 localities it seems to be immune from 

 this pest. 



Mr. Royal Kellogg, of the Bureau of 

 Forestry, has prepared a bulletin, that 

 will soon be issued, on the trees adapted 

 for that part of Kansas and Nebraska 

 west of the one hundredth principal 

 meridian. This publication will be es- 

 pecially valuable for all residents in the 

 western part of the country. The red 

 cedar will thrive to the Colorado line 

 and can be used for ornament and a 

 windbreak, but for post and pole pur- 

 poses it should be at least from twenty- 

 five to thirty years old, on account of 

 the large proportion of sap as compared 

 with heart wood, the heart being the 

 only portion of the wood that will re- 

 sist decay. The proportion of sap as 

 compared with heartwood in the mul- 

 berry, Osage orange, catalpa, and locust 

 is quite small. 



The Austrian, Scotch, and other pines 

 will grow in the West if one has pa- 

 tience and understands how to start 

 them and give proper care and cultiva- 

 tion until they become firmly estab- 

 lished. 



WILL IT PAY ? 



Every man who plants trees or any- 

 thing else naturally asks the question, 

 " Will it pay ? " I believe that by a 



judicious selection of location and the 

 species of trees planted, and with proper 

 care, a timber plantation will pay a 

 larger rate of interest on the investment 

 than the average farm crop. It is true 

 that if every owner of land planted it 

 to timber the profits would be very much 

 lessened ; but only a small proportion of 

 men will plant a crop for which they 

 must wait from ten to twelve years to 

 realize a profit. The greatest profit to 

 be derived from an investment of this 

 sort is that it is permanent. When a 

 plantation is once established and the 

 crop is removed, a second crop can be 

 grown from the stumps in much less 

 time than the first and produce a better 

 grade of timber than the first one. The 

 Osage orange and catalpa are the most 

 persistent sprouters on the list. 



It will pay not only in a financial 

 way, but it pays in the sense of being 

 a benefit to the community in which one 

 may live. It will pay as a shelter for 

 hogs or cattle from the cold northwest- 

 erly blizzards that sweep over the state 

 annually. It will pay many times the 

 cost by providing shelter for a herd of 

 cattle during one of these terrible storms. 

 From my experience of almost twenty 

 years in growing timber trees, I feel 

 perfectly satisfied that it has paid me; 

 and if I had the means, I would plant 

 one or two thousand acres to forest trees 

 within the next few years, because I 

 firmly believe that long before 1920 

 every owner of timber will find a ready 

 market and a good price for anything 

 that he mav offer for sale. 



TRACK SUPPLIES AND TREATED TIMBERS. 



NEW FORM OF RAILROAD TIE RECOM- 

 MENDED BY THE BUREAU OF FORESTRY. 



THE annual consumption of ties on 

 203,132 miles of railroad track in 

 this country is 114,000,000, and it is 

 yearly becoming harder to meet this 

 demand. Granite, metal, and, more 

 recently, concrete ties have been exper- 

 imented with, but nowhere permanently 

 adopted, and the indications are that 

 wooden ties are not soon to be displaced. 



The Bureau of Forestry has for some 

 time been making studies and experi- 

 ments designed to improve the present 

 conditions and to prevent the exhaus- 

 tion of the timbers from which ties are 

 made. Bulletin No. 50, "Cross-Tie 

 Forms and Rail Fastenings, with Spe- 

 cial Reference to Treated Timbers," by 

 Dr. Hermann von Schrenk, which has 



