April 1902.] The Hardy Catalpa. 129 



SOUTHERN INDIANA RAILWAY COMPANY, 



BEDFORD, IND., January 31, 1902. 



Referring to your letter of the 21st instant in regard to the use of catalpa cross- 

 ties, in reply will say that we have never used any ties made of this timber on this 

 line, and I know nothing about them from actual experience. I would, however, 

 make the suggestion that they could be used in connection with some form of 

 tie-plate, the same as cedar and hemlock ties. 



Yours truly, F. W. RANNO, Engineer Maintenance of Way. 



CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY, 



CHICAGO, January 31, 1902. 



Answering your inquiry of January 22, will advise that this company has 

 never made use of any catalpa ties, and therefore I have no information to give 

 as to its value for that particular purpose. I hope that you may be able to 

 develop something in that line, as the necessity for a good material in ties 

 is becoming very urgent. Yours, EDWD. C. CARTER, Chief Engineer. 



MICHIGAN CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY, 



DETROIT, MICH., February 21, 1902. 



Referring to your letter of February 1, ult., I am very much interested in the 

 culture of the Catalpa speciosa, and have some 25,000 or 30,000 plants at various 

 points which I trust will find soil and climatic conditions such that they will de- 

 velop with a fair degree of rapidity. The only catalpa tie in our system that 

 I know anything about ivas a tie put in about 1885. It was not a particu- 

 larly good sample when it was put in, but, so far as lam able to discern, it 

 is about as good as it ever was. Doubtless the wood is too soft to be used with- 

 out tie-plates, when the ties are laid consecutively, but as we have oak ties on 

 either side of this catalpa, and as an eighty pound rail, five inches at the base, 

 has been used on this tie for pretty near its entire term of service, / do not find 

 that it has cut much or that its holding poiver of spike has diminished any, 

 and I have the utmost faith that, if the catalpa can be grown in a variety of 

 climatic and soil conditions, the culture of it will be a feature of very great 

 importance to railroads. My plantations are altogether too young to form any 

 forecast. From previous culture we have given that particular type of tree, for 

 shade purposes, it seems to bear out the claim that the forestry commissions 

 have made, that it will increase its diameter pretty nearly an inch a year up to 

 some growth, the magnitude of which I am uncertain. I have endeavored on 

 our system to establish plantations where the climatic conditions will be some- 

 what dissimilar, and where the soil conditions will be entirely so. 



Yours truly, A. TORREY, Chief Engineer. 



From the letters quoted, it is evident that there is no objection to 

 the use of a soft wood as tie timber, provided it will not readily de- 

 cay, and provided tie-plates are used to prevent the rail from cutting 

 into the face of the tie. It is furthermore evident from the letters 

 received from the chief engineers of the St. Louis & San Francisco, 

 the "Big Four," the "Cotton Belt," the Evansville & Terre Haute, 

 the Texas & Pacific and the Michigan Central railway companies that 

 catalpa wood, in their experience, has actually lasted, either as tie or 

 post timber, for from fifteen to twenty years, or more, without chem- 



