288 PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 
So many forms of ties have been devised, some with considerable merit, 
the element of cost will govern the extent to which they will be used in 
experiment. 
So long as suitable wood can be secured at reasonable cost, this will be 
the material used by the great majority of railways. 
In planting trees for sleepers the cost of production is very largely in 
favor of catalpa wood, providing proper judgment be used in selection of 
stocks, care in planting, and subsequent management. 
That there have been many grievous failures is true, but this should 
not prevent a continuation of experiments under more intelligent manage- 
ment and with the light of recent information. 
There is not at present any supply of this wood in existence, nor will 
there be until the trees shall be planted and grown. 
Trees planted in a single row along the track of a railway, surrounded by 
a dense grass sod, the tops cut out by telegraph linemen, utterly neglected 
by the company, even were they of the proper variety, will never make profitable 
timber, and should not be taken as a gauge with which to measure a forest 
for cross tie purposes. 
In considering the catalpa for cross ties there should be added the cost 
of tie-plates, about sixteen cents per pair, for each sleeper, since the wear by 
grinding under the rails will be prevented by the use of plates. 
And while adding the cost of tie-plates to catalpa wood, it must not be 
forgotten that all wooden ties of the future will demand the use of plates, for 
oak has practically ceased to be a timber for general use, and heart yellow 
pine will not long be in the market. Most other woods are softer than catalpa, 
especially when the latter shall have been grown quickly, and thus very 
much harder than that which has had a slow, suppressed growth, from over- 
crowding. 
TIME REQUIRED FOR PRODUCTION. 
To produce timber suitable for sleepers of white oak will require from 
seventy to one hundred years. Yellow pine, such as is used largely in the 
South will take an equal length of time. Pinus ponderosa, the bull pine of the 
West, grown from the seed, will take from sixty to seventy years. Red wood 
of California is also of very slow growth, while chestnut, so largely used 
in New England, may require thirty years, although old trees of sixty years 
make the more enduring timber. Black locust makes a rapid growth for a few 
years, but it is sappy and not enduring. The old trees of locust are very 
dense and durable in the ground. 
Catalpa speciosa is recognized as making the quickest growth of any 
valuable American forest tree. There is no other tree which can confidently 
be recommended with which to reafforest the land within the time of the 
present generation. 
This essential qualification should count very high in comparative tests. 
The mesquite of Mexico and quebracho of the Argentine Republic are 
instances of very dense woods which require centuries for their production, vet 
they do not equal the catalpa for durability. 
