630 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



In Forest Service Bulletin No. 78 it built up largely on railroad cross-ties ; 



is stated that "Nearly ten billion feet yet, out of the 148,000,000 used in 1910, 



board measure of structural timber are only 30,000,000, or about 21 per cent, 



destroyed each year in the United received preservative treatment. This, 



States. * * * If all the timber were however, is an increase of 275 per cent 



treated which it is practicable to treat, over the number treated in 1905. Dur- 



and which could be treated at a profit, ing the same year 133,000,000 board 



nearly six billion feet board measure, feet of lumber and timber were treated, 



or over sixty per cent, could be saved, which represents less than one-third of 



This saving would represent the annual one per cent of the total consumption, 



growth on twenty million acres of well- The total output of all kinds of treated 



stocked timber land." In cross-ties material in 1911 amounted to slightly 



alone, the Government estimates that over 110,372,000 cubic feet, which is 



proper preservative treatment would re- over 500 per cent more than was treated 



duce the annual cut to the extent of in 1904. 



nearly 60,000,000 ties per year, which It is very difficult to appreciate ex- 

 is the equivalent of two billion board actly what cross-ties and lumber, when 

 feet. stated in units of millions, mean in 



The first wood-preserving plant in terms of volume. Some idea may be 



this country of which there is record gained if we consider that the 30,000,- 



was built at Lowell, Mass., in 1848; 000 ties treated in 1910 would, if piled 



while the first railroad plant was erected 20 ties high, according to the usual ar- 



by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad rangement in a treating plant yard, 



at West Pascagoula, Miss., in 187(5. cover an area of over 600 acres, or 



Between these dates and the late SO's practically a square mile. If laid one 



there was little development. In 1900 deep side by side, these same ties would 



there were only eleven plants in opera- cover 10,000 acres with a solid wooden 



tion, but by the end of 1911 the num- floor the full thickness of the ties, 



ber had grown to one hundred and one. It certainly must pay to inject timber 



Of these twenty-four are owned and with preservatives, or the railroads and 



operated by railroad companies, while other commercial concerns would not 



the remainder do a general commercial undertake it. The theory, which is very 



business in the treatment of a large old, has become an established practice 



variety of timbers. of unquestioned merit. Owing to the 



The capital invested in these plants comparatively short time treated timber 



is certainly not less than $10,000,000, has been used in this country, and the 



while the value of the wood material long time required to get results from 



carried in stock for seasoning would service tests, many of our conclusions 



run into many more millions of dollars, are based on European results. We 



The initial cost of the plants, however, have, however, records in this country 



is comparatively low, considering the of creosoted piling resisting teredo and 



enormous volume of material handled decay for twenty-five and thirty years 



and its cost value when treated. A in w r aters which would destroy un- 



$100,000 plant, for example, will treat treated timber in a few years ; while 



each year material worth from one-half many treated cross-ties have been in 



to three-quarter million dollars. On the track ten to fifteen years without signs 



basis of the output of treated timber of deterioration. In France, an average 



in 1910, which are the latest figures life of about twenty-eight years is ob- 



available, the value of the cross-ties, tained from creosoted beech ties, which 



lumber, poles, and other timbers which would not last over four years, un- 



received treatment approximated $35,- treated. 



000,000. Experimental preservation of woods 



Great as has been the progress in was attempted in England more than 



preservative treatment, a large per- one hundred years ago, and commercial 



centage of the timber is still used in treatment of timber has been practiced 



its natural state. The industry has been in Europe for over fifty years. Out of 



