April 1902.] The Hardy Catalpa. . 119 



the growth and multiplication of the fungus enemies of wood is very 

 little favored. 



With the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railway, operating 190,291 

 miles of road, through eastern Kansas, central Missouri, the Indian 

 Territory, and eastern Texas, the percentage of renewals was ten per 

 cent., the kind of tie used not being mentioned. 



Taking a region fairly typical of a great portion of the Northwest, 

 and the very unusual case of a road laid exclusively with red cedar 

 the James river division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul rail- 

 road, with a track of 339 miles, the percentage of removals was as low 

 as 5.5 in the year mentioned. 



The life of a railroad tie varies, as has been said, with the kind of 

 timber used, and for each kind with the climatic conditions of the 

 region in which it is laid. In this regard the life of the tie depends, 

 of course, upon exactly the same conditions as affect the decay of 

 other timber, with this exception, that tie timber being laid upon a 

 better-drained substratum than the adjacent country usually affords, 

 the agencies of decay are relatively less active. This must be mark- 

 edly the case where railroads use, as is generally the case to-day on 

 main lines of important roads, rock or burnt clay "gravel" as ballast. 



Taking the country as a whole, the life of ties in track, where the 

 wood has not been treated chemically, is shown to be about four years 

 for pine, eight to ten for white oak, and eleven for redwood. From 

 the statistics of the thirty-six roads above referred to, the general 

 average of the percentages of ties annually removed to the total in 

 track is nine per cent. From this it would appear that the number of 

 new ties put in track in 1900 amounted in round numbers to 48,000,- 

 000, worth, at forty cents apiece, $19,200,000, and there is good reason 

 to believe that this estimate is too conservative. The annual mile- 

 age increase in the United States is subject to considerable fluctua- 

 tion, depending upon variations in the business situation which 

 appear from year to year in the different parts of the country. The 

 average increase for the decade preceding 1899 was 3500 miles per 

 annum. According to this, the trackage in the United States in 1909 

 will have increased 35,000 miles, calling for 98,000,000 new ties, or 

 9,800.000 a year. What will these ties cost, and where will they come 

 from ? 



Following is a table taken from page 7 of the report previously 

 quoted, and giving the cost of untreated cross-ties to thirteen impor- 

 tant lines of railway. 



