32 THE FORESTS OF TENNESSEE. 



of timber annually to supply the needs of the existing 

 railroads in the United States. 



This large consumption of timber for ties is a serious 

 drain upon the forests of the country, requiring 45,000,- 

 000 trees, on the assumption that an average of two ties 

 may be had from one tree. Fifteen trees to the acre 

 suitable for making ties would be a full estimate, so that 

 it will require the culling of 3,000,000 acres a year to sup- 

 ply this demand. The right of way held by the 182,000 

 miles of railroads of the United States, assuming the 

 width of one hundred feet, take up not less than 2,172,000 

 acres. If this were planted in locust-trees or catalpa, so 

 as to form one row of trees on each side of the track, fifty 

 feet distant from the track, the trees being set four feet 

 apart, it would give room to grow 477,840,000 trees, which 

 ought to make 900,000,000 ties. The life of black or yel- 

 low locust ties is from seven to ten years. With proper 

 culture and attention these locust-trees would be large 

 enough in fifteen years to make railway ties. This would 

 supply an annual average of 60,000,000 ties. This is about 

 two-thirds the number necessary to meet the present re- 

 quirement of the railroads of the United States. It would 

 be wisdom in the management of the railway lines to 

 utilize their right of way in this manner. 



It is a false patriotism to rob posterity of their nat- 

 ural rights, and not to protect the timber of our state is 

 a crime against civilization and a crime against posterity. 

 Our present destructive methods combine the stupidity 

 of unthinking barbarism and the cupidity of unprincipled 

 selfishness with the wantonness of unbridled license. 

 Forests are the breathing-places of mother earth, the 

 beautiful vestments that hide her nudity and decorate 

 her person. Forests, indeed, play a most wonderful and 

 important part in the economy of nature. They temper 

 the severity of the wintry blasts, they give a grateful 

 freshness to the summer breezes, they regulate the flow 

 of our rivers, and keep our springs from drying up; they 

 shield the earth and protect it from the deep freezes in 

 winter, they induce a regularity in the rainfall; their 

 verdure beautifies the land, their leaves fructify the soil, 

 and their shade adds a genial quality to every home. 



