AMERICAN FOREST CONGRESS 269 



According to our information, the only tree that 

 has a comparatively rapid growth and which will, 

 according to the best evidence obtainable, furnish a 

 first-class cross tie of long life, is the catalpa. It is 

 claimed that this tree will, in twenty years, make ties 

 that will last fifteen years in track. However, the 

 timber is soft as compared with oak, and will, of 

 necessity, require tie-plates. 



Assuming the life of a catalpa cross tie as being 

 fifteen years, the requirements per mile per year for 

 renewals would be about 200, making the requirements 

 for the present mileage of the road under consideration, 

 allowing for emergencies, about six hundred thousand 

 (600,000) catalpa ties per annum. 



Let us now consider the question of cultivating 

 catalpa trees for cross ties. We find that one acre of 

 standing catalpa trees will produce, when twenty years 

 of age, eight hundred and fifty (850) cross ties. There- 

 fore, in order to secure six hundred thousand (600,000) 

 cross ties per annum, about seven hundred (700) acres 

 of land bearing catalpa trees twenty years old will be 

 required each year; hence, there should be planted 

 every year, for the requirements of the railroad, having 

 a mileage of two-thousand five hundred and seventy- 

 one mile (2,571), seven hundred (700) acres of trees, 

 and this planting must be continued for a period of 

 twenty years before any cross ties can be secured. As 

 we are to plant seven hundred (700) acres each year 

 during the twenty years, we must plant a total of 

 fourteen thousand (14,000) acres, or, allowing for 

 some waste land, about fifteen thousand (15,000) acres 

 must be secured. Such a large body of land as this 

 cannot be obtained unless it be in districts where there 

 are at present comparatively large bodies of waste or 

 cheap land. There is no point on this railroad where 



