THE LUMJiKR INDl'STKY IN EASTERN NOllTH CAROLINA. 119 



exported last year to coastwise and to European ports. A larger 

 <|uantity of this timber was shipped from Wilmington than from 

 any other point. 



Railroad Ties. — One of the most constant demands for the 

 best heart pine and young white and post oaks is for making rail- 

 road cross-ties. The eastern part of this State not only furnishes 

 all the timber required for the construction and maintenance of its 

 own lines of railroads, but annually exports several thousand cross- 

 ties to other States. There are about 400,000 cross-ties required 

 yearly to maintain the existing lines of railroad. Of these 400,000 

 ties about one-half are all-heart long-leaf pine, and average about 

 7J feet long by 9 inches broad and 6 inches thick, each containing 

 about 3 cubic feet of wood. The oak ties are larger, especially 

 broader, and are being used more than formerly. There are some 

 cypress and a few white cedar ties in use, and on some roads lob- 

 lolly pine ties are used. The average price paid for hewn ties is 

 about 22 cents each. As near as could be ascertained there were 

 22,000 white cedar and cypress, and 30,000 pine ties, exported 

 during the year 1893. 



Telegraph Poles, etc. — These are cut from both cypress and 

 white cedar woods. About 7,000 poles are annually required for 

 use in this State, and besides this about 12,000 white cedar tele- 

 graph and electric light poles, valued at about |27,000, were 

 shipped during 1893. The requirements for such white cedar 

 poles usually are that they shall have few knots in them, and very 

 few are cut under 14 inches in diameter at the larger end, so that 

 the finest stocks are required to make them. It would be advisable 

 for more care to betaken of juniper "bays" and swamps after they 

 have been lumbered. Their soil is generally too peaty to be used 

 for agricultural purposes, so that the only real use to which these 

 lands can be put is to let grow on them the young white cedar left 

 after they are cut over. Precaution should be taken to prevent 

 these swamps from being burnt over, during dry seasons, as the 

 forest fires not only destroy the young growth of white cedar, but 

 also burn the thin layer of organic matter, consisting of sphagnum, 

 peat and buried cedar logs, clear down to the sand subsoil, and 

 thus destroy the possibility of a future supply of this timber. 



