PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 221 



TO RAILWAY DIRECTORS, STOCKHOLDERS AND OFFICERS. 



The object of this paper is to present, in a concise form, some of the 

 problems in reference to Railway Cross-ties: What material shall be used? 

 The probable cost, and where shall they be obtained? 



Good white oak has become too valuable to justify its use for ties. 

 (Note. There are 45 feet, b. m., in a medium tie, which for furniture lumber 

 is worth $2.70, five times the price of cross-ties.) Only the larger limbs, 

 defective portions and small trees are made into ties. The average life may 

 be estimated at seven years. 



Tamarack (American larch), white cedar, chestnut, pine and redwood 

 are used near the localities where they grow. The characteristics of each 

 are well known to engineers of maintenance of way. 



Each year the price is advancing as the forests decrease in extent, while 

 railways not favorably located experience increased difficulty in obtaining a 

 supply. 



METAL TIES 



have been devised in countless numbers ; some have been used upon European 

 lines with apparent success, but they are costly, from $2 to $4 each, reaching 

 about $9,000 per mile, as against $1,500 for white oak. 



\Yere all American railways as straight as those of Europe, with their 

 minimum grades, and as substantially constructed, metal ties would not 

 be objectionable, save for their expense; but none of these conditions exist. 



Given a mountain railway with abrupt curves, often reversed, with the 

 outer rail elevated, a heavy freight train with half a mile length, an engine 

 at each end or a double header: What engineer can compute the complex 

 forces exerted against the rails in many directions as successive portions of 

 the train are forcibly thrown from side to side? (Wooden ties are elastic; 

 every spike is held in place by a cushion of wood fibers, every strain and blow 

 being reduced by their elasticity.) How will it be with 100 pound steel rails, 

 rigidly bolted to inflexible metal ties, with these forces pounding continually? 



Accidents from broken rails and fastenings must reduce profits materi- 

 ally; and when they occur the slow process of unscrewing nuts, replacing 

 rails, ties and bolts can only result in tedious delays and great expense. 



It would seem, therefore, that wood is far preferable to anything else so 

 far devised for cross-ties; but wood is rapidly disappearing and trees must 

 be grown for supplying this need. The rapid disappearance of the Ameri- 

 can forests, the advancing prices of lumber, with increased difficulties experi- 

 enced in securing a supply for commercial uses, as well as the struggle among 

 competing railways to secure enough cross-ties for the maintenance of a safe 

 track, bring prominently to every consumer of wood the question : What shall 

 we do for timber in the future? 



It has been the custom to take the oak, a tree which is slow to develop, 

 as a standard by which to measure every forest growth, and thus impatient 

 Americans are discouraged from forest planting. However, in the Catalpa 

 we have a tree combining many of the qualities of oak, besides possessing 

 several features of great value unknown to the quercus family, and, withal, 



