262 PrOC^£:dINGS 0^ THE 



remarks in connection with this all-important subject. 

 The question of forest preservation and perpetuation 

 is beginning to receive attention in this country 

 through the several State Bureaus of Forestry which 

 have been established, and attention is given to forest 

 preservation by these, as well as by the National 

 Government. The National Government has estab- 

 lished a Bureau of Forestry, which is doing valuable 

 work in the dissemination of useful information 

 and by creating a popular sentiment in favor of 

 the subject, and its cooperation with railroad compa- 

 nies and lumber industries in the introduction of proper 

 methods for the preservation and perpetuation of the 

 timber supply of the country. 



The necessity or advisability of a railroad taking an 

 active part in forestry operations, looking especially 

 towards its future supply of cross ties for its own use, 

 is comparatively a new idea. As long as twenty-four 

 or twenty-five years ago, on the Pennsylvania lines 

 west of Pittsburg, attention was already given to the 

 subject, and a number of catalpa trees were planted 

 along the right-of-way of one of its lines; but the 

 results obtained were unsatisfactory. More recently, 

 the cultivation of the yellow locust as a tie timber has 

 been brought to our attention, and the cultivation of 

 this tree to a limited extent for the purposes named 

 has been undertaken. 



Within the past two years we have begun the plant- 

 ing of yellow locust trees on an extensive scale on 

 property owned by the company. The trees thus 

 planted are seedlings two or three years old, and cost, 

 including labor of planting, about eight cents each. 

 Generally speaking, these are planted ten feet apart, 

 thus averaging about 400 to the acre ; although in the 

 fall of 1904 we planted 54,871 trees six feet apart and 

 88,127 trees eight feet apart. 



