118 TREE-PLANTING BY RAILROAD COMPANIES. 



second year, and sooner if cnt in winter. For lasting, we cat our pine timber in June, 

 July, and August, and hew it as soon as down. 



32. Hewed white oak used for ties, lasting about 8 years. Cut in winter ; none later 

 than February. Ties cut before the sap rises last one-third longer. 



33. Oak, hemlock, tamarack, and black ash used for ties. Tamarack and hemlock 

 last 5 to 7 years. Winter is the best time for cutting ; cannot get them at any other 

 time. 



34. White oak and hemlock used for ties. The former lasts 9 years. Ties should be 

 cut in winter, from November to March. 



35. Chestnut in dry places will last 8 to 12 years, and in moist places 5 to 8 years. 

 They are generally cut in the winter months. 



36. White oak and chestnut used as ties ; cut in fall and winter ; use round timber 

 sided. 



37. White and post oak used exclusively for ties, lasting 6 to 8 years. They are cnt 

 from December 1 to March 1, and when cut in winter will last a quarter longer than 

 when cnt in spring or summer. 



38. Pine averages 6 to 7 years. Some decay in 3 years, and some fat light-wood 

 will last 15 years or more. On the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, some miles 

 were laid with cedar ties very many years ago, and are still good. We prefer to 

 have our ties cut from January to May inclusive — better in January or Febraary. Ex- 

 periments were made of impregnating growing pine trees with " dead oil " (distilled 

 from coal-tar at 400° to 600° Fahrenheit), in July, by boring a hole through the tree 

 and making a saw -cut on each side to apply the oil in. It went down more rapidly 

 than toward the branches, and was irregularly absorbed by the wood. Was satisfied 

 that this was not the cheapest way to impregnate. Other experiments were tried, lead- 

 ing to the belief that to thoroughly impregnate we must soak long in an open vat, or 

 shorter soaking under pressure. For piling under bridges, we use cedar for light struct- 

 ures, and where it cannot be got heavy enough, the choicest pine. As soon as driven the 

 the head is sawn off to its proper length, generally at the level of the ground, and a 

 few holes are bored vertically as deep as the auger will go ; these holes are filled with 

 creosote or dead oil, costing 8 to 10 cents per gallon. They are kept filled as the oil 

 soaks in till the trestle is covered by the ground-sill of the work. This method would 

 not of course apply for trestles submerged, but for those across swamjis and water-ways, 

 where the top of the piles are very apt to decay rapidly. The object is to get enough 

 of the oil absorbed to protect the portion exposed to alternations of wet and dry. Suffi- 

 cient time has not elapsed to determine the result. 



Bemarks concerning screens, tiniber-bells, and wind-h-eaks along railroads. 

 [Numbers refer to railroads, as numbered in preceding table.] 



2. Had about 5 miles of willow wind-break near Chicago. They were not kept up. 

 Some farmers are planting Osage-orange hedges along the road, which answers a good 

 purpose. 



17. Have about 5 miles of evergreen hedge on Michigan division. 



l^EE-PLANTING BY RAILROAD COMPANIES. 



Several of the railroad companies iu tlie prairie States have under- 

 taken the planting of forest-trees, either as an example for encourage- 

 ment of settlers, or to promote the sale of lands, or as a source for 

 future supply, or as wind-breaks for shelter to their lines of road. We 

 are unable to present a full list of these experiments, but give the fol- 

 lowing as containing facts worthy of notice : 



Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Bailroacl. — In 1873 this company be- 

 gan to plant nurseries, with the view of forest-growing, at intervals 

 along their line in Central and Western Kansas, under the direction of 

 Mr. S. T. Kelsey. The experiment included the ailauthus, American 

 elm, ash, black walnut, box-elder, burr oak, catalpa, cottonwood, white 

 and gray willows, hackberry, honey-locust, Kentucky coffee-tree, Osago 

 orange, peach, silver maple, and silver poplar.^ The stations were as 

 follows : 



Hutchinson : 180 miles west of Missouri River; 1,500 feet above tide; 18 acres; soil, 

 a light, sandy loam. 



1 Tabular statements of the result were reported by Mr. Kelsey iu the reports of the 

 Kansas State Board of Agriculture for 1874, p. 326, and by Mr. C. H. Longstreath, his 

 successor, in the report for 1875, p. 666. 



