THE FORESTS OF TENNESSEE. 31 



dom, and an enlightened public sentiment shall unite in 

 building up these sterile places. 



Enough of such spots there are, if reclaimed, to build 

 a first-class railroad through the state. 



More is involved in this question than mere money. 

 The very existence of the human race is imperiled by 

 this neglect. Happiness, contentment, progress, refine- 

 ment, and true civilization depend, in a measure, upon 

 the preservation of our forests, which greatly affect cli- 

 mate, and the preservation of our soils, which so greatly 

 affects production and population. 



Nor should the railroads, with all their influence and 

 accumulated wealth, fail to give encouragement in every 

 possible way to the preservation and reproduction of our 

 forests. For the period of eleven years the Nashville, 

 Chattanooga, and St. Louis railway has consumed annu- 

 ally 370 ties on an average for each mile of main track. 

 This includes also the requirements for about 195 miles of 

 new track in eleven years. The consumption for the 

 state on this basis would reach 1,147,000 ties, requiring 

 38,232 acres annually to supply. 



The life of the railroad ties in Tennessee is greater 

 than the average life of ties in the whole country for 

 two reasons viz., (1) the ties are larger and made alto- 

 gether from selected trees, and they are smoothly hewn; 

 (2) the traffic is not so heavy as the average traffic of the 

 whole country, and ties are not subjected to such frequent 

 use in carrying large burdens. 



The railroads of the country are annually consuming 

 90,000,000 ties. If the life of railroad ties for the entire 

 country could be extended to the limit reached by the 

 ties of the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis railway, 

 which is about eight years, 67,000,000 ties only would be 

 required for the annual consumption of the 182,000 miles 

 of railroads in the United States, instead of 90,000,000. 



The total consumption for railroad purposes in- the 

 United States, which includes ties, trestle and culvert 

 timber, timber for cars, etc., is estimated to be 500,000,000 

 cubic feet, or 6,000,000,000 feet board measure. Estima- 

 ting 6,000 feet of merchantable timber to the acre, which 

 must be regarded as liberal, it will require 1,000,000 acres 



