122 Botanical Department. [Bulletin 108 



points, the ties thus costing about forty-five cents each in the track, and it could 

 probably afford to have them treated if it were assured as to the best process to 

 use under its circumstances. We may now expect, during the next few years, to 

 have a number of new processes brought forward, but it will take a long time to 

 determine their efficiency." 



To sum up the present situation in the United States in respect to 

 railroad ties, the best class of timber for ties hitherto available, the 

 white oak, is nearing exhaustion. The substitution of steel ties 

 seems out of the question from a practical standpoint. Two alter- 

 natives present themselves. 



It is possible to utilize cheap woods which, in a natural state, 

 rapidly decay, by injecting them with chemical preservatives, or to 

 grow forest plantations of long-lived woods adjacent to the lines of 

 road. In the arid regions of the Southwest it may be possible ( until 

 the supply gives out ) to use soft woods to advantage without pre- 

 servatives, as in the case of the Santa Fe, Prescott & Phoenix railroad, 

 in Arizona. In states which border 011 the lower Mississippi river 

 and its southern tributaries, the cypress, a long-lived timber, may 

 furnish a supply of ties for some time to come. Indeed, if railroad 

 companies were to acquire title to cypress forest land, and manage it 

 on scientific forestry principles, there is no question but that this 

 timber would form a valuable source of supply to many lines of rail- 

 road for an indefinite time in the future. But with the present prev- 

 alent custom of railroads to buy their timber from lands not owned 

 by them, and with the reckless exploitation of timber resources now 

 generally going on, it will be merely a question of a few years when 

 a "tie famine" will face American railway systems. Even the "soft 

 woods" available from native forests form a comparatively limited 

 source of supply. When these woods are used, there is to be added 

 to the cost of delivery at the railway line the cost of shipment to the 

 injecting works, the cost of injection itself, and of reshipment to the 

 distributing points. This will bring their cost, in many cases, above 

 that of white oak. By the best processes of chemical treatment now 

 used in America and found financially practicable, the length of life 

 of the soft-wood ties may be brought up to from eight to fifteen 

 years, or to about the normal life of untreated white oak. 



Nevertheless, even with this expedient, the question of a tie fam- 

 ine is only postponed, not disposed of. In fact, the whole problem 

 of obtaining railroad ties is essentially a local one for each railroad. 

 The greatest economy lies in having tie timber growing as close as 

 possible to the track of the railway itself. While the temporary ex- 

 istence of supplies of various kinds of more or less desirable timber 

 contiguous to their routes is enabling some lines of railway to get 



