PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 295 
Through the courtesy of Mr. H. B. Spencer, general manager Southern 
Railway, I was permitted to make a search for these ties and remove 
such as were desired. On September 17, 1903, 1 made a search and between 
Albion and Brown's found several of the original catalpa ties, which were 
sound and in good preservation after thirty-one years’ continuous service. 
Thirty-one years ago thirty pound rails and four inch spikes were in use 
and ties of present thickness were not required. These ties were therefore but 
five inches thick. In modern reconstruction with ninety pound rails and six 
inch spikes these sleepers are not thick enough, the long spikes passing 
entirely through the wood. For this reason most of the catalpa ties have 
been removed. 
Many citizens who saw the track laid thirty-one years ago remember 
these ties and have observed them from time to time. The evidence is com- 
plete as to their time of service. During this thirty-one years five sets of 
white oak ties have been decayed and removed, yet the catalpa is sound 
to-day. 
A white oak tie lasts one-tenth as long as the time required to grow it, 
while these catalpa ties grow in sixteen years and last twice the length of 
time required to grow. 
The telegraph lines of this Air Line Railway were largely of catalpa, 
several hundred of which still remain in use after thirty-one years of service. 
Some of them were removed and placed on exhibition with the cross ties. They 
are but slightly decayed just at surface of the ground. The poles are of but 
six inches thickness and twenty feet length and the probable age of trees ten 
years. 
A fence post secured in the same location has a verified existence of sixty- 
five years, while another has been in use eighty years. 
