21 
posal to substitute various timbers hitherto but sparingly used in 
track const ruction, reference may be made to the experience of Euro- 
pean railways with biech, which, together with closeness of fiber to 
hold spikes, combines the requisite hardness to withstand the concus- 
sion of heavy traffic, but lacks durability when in contact with the 
ground subject to excessive changes in dryness and moisture. When 
properly treated with an antiseptic the tie, which in its natural state 
lasts but five or six years, is made to last from ten to twelve. 
The same treatment is applied to various inferior kinds of pine, trans- 
forming them into valuable material, while in their natural condition 
they are almost useless lor railroad construction. In consequence of 
the rapid increase of railroads in European couutries, aud their compara- 
tively small timber resources, these precautionary measures of econ. 
oiny have there been forcibly demanded, and they have also attracted 
the attention of American railway companies, some of which have ex- 
perimented quite extensively with the leading processes of timber pres- 
ervation in vogue in Europe.. 
The great abundance and cheapness of timber in this country hitherto 
has made the economy of any expensive preserving process quite doubt- 
ful, while the dishonesty with which contracts for preservation have 
been fulfilled, in many instances resulting in the protection of only an 
outer shell surrounding the speedily decaying heart, has proved a great 
impediment to real progress. 
The question, however, is only postponed to a time, not far distant, 
when the price of first-class tie-timber will show a marked increase. It 
is obvious that the lines in timbered sections, within cheap aud easy 
reach of all the road material needed by them, have no immediate 
interest in the question of the preservation of the very product in the 
carryiug traffic of which they are principally engaged, and no induce- 
ment could lead them to engage in enterprises for which there is neither 
real nor immediate necessity. The case, however, is entirely different 
with lines in sparsely wooded districts from which the most available 
timber has already disappeared, aud where forebodings of coming defi- 
ciency of home supply are already sensibly felt; yet it concerns more 
especially the lines on the open plains which depend exclusively on 
remote forest districts for their supply of timber. On the proverbially 
fertile soils of these broad prairies soft-wood timbers can be encouraged 
to grow with great— quite often with wonderful— rapidity, thus securing 
an abundant supply for track construction and for many mechanical 
purposes, provided the texture of the wood can be sufficiently strength- 
ened, and made more durable by a process of preservation, the expense 
of which does not prohibit its general adoption. 
Correspondence recently had on the subject with managers and 
engineers of leading western roads, a resume of which will be found 
in the appended summary of correspondence, establishes the fact that 
the attention of various lines is being prominently directed to this im- 
