396 



CONSERVATION 



feet than grows each year. Divide 2,000 

 by siNty and we have an indication that 

 the timber will be exhausted in a little 

 over thirty years to be exact, in 

 thirty-three and one-third years. 



With a timber famine almost at 

 hand, the wood-using industries will 

 welcome any practical invention that 

 will tend to lessen the drain upon the 

 forests. Many substitutes are talked 

 of to take the place of wood, but even 

 with them all we still need to exercise 

 the utmost care and economy in the use 

 cf our wood resources. 



An invention which will greatly 

 lessen the drain upon the wood supply 

 is a steel railroad tie patented by Mr. 

 Dawson Hoopes, of Philadelphia, and 

 known as the Keystone steel tie. 



The tie, which is eight feet long, 

 eight inches wide and five inches thick, 

 has its body formed of two channel- 

 shaped beams of steel, of different 

 cross-sections and one fitting over or 

 embracing the other to constitute a box- 

 like structure, with bolts for clamping 

 the rails thereto. The tie is filled with 



some non-metallic material, as slag or 

 concrete, which, while in the plastic con- 

 dition, may be poured in and allowed to 

 set or harden to give solidity to the tie 

 as a whole. 



Experiments prove the Keystone 

 steel tie to be eminently satisfactory, 

 and filling in all respects the require- 

 ments of the ordinary oak tie, com- 

 bining, as it does, great strength and 

 stability, and conforming closely to the 

 shape and resiliency of the wooden tie, 

 with the added advantage that its use- 

 fulness covers a period ten times as 

 long as does the best wood tie in use. 



On account of the shortage of wood 

 pulp, the invention of this tie is wel- 

 comed by the wood-using industries 

 and by newspapers. It is predicted that 

 the tie will meet with wide use, espe- 

 cially in the Philippines, China and 

 South America, as the fact that it can 

 be shipped in parts, and assembled and 

 filled with concrete afterward, makes it 

 desirable for transporting a long dis- 

 tance. 



A Scene in the Everglades 



