Show TIES OF THE FUTURE alie department of agriculture rocert ly issued a pamphlet on alie subject of railroad ties which contains interesting reading the number of miles of railroad track in alie united states which must not be confounded with railroad mileage is now reckoned at miles at 2640 liea to the mile this would give an aggregate number of ties each tie containing oliree cubic feet of wood the total amount of cubic feet of wood consumed in ties would thus be add to this cubic feet of wood consumed for bridge and trestle work timber and poles and wo hae an aggregate of cubic feet which is equal to cubic feet of round timber it is estimated that to furnish this quantity of timber one fifth of the entire forest area of alie united states was denuded and has not been replaced on many mountain sides through which railroads run a luxuriant growth of timber formerly shaded the soil and nursed springs n aich fed rivers now the mountains are bare and do not even grow grass or wild flowers the trees hae gone up 1 patently parent ly never to return but this ie not all the lifa of a hardwood tie is seven years that of a softwood tie four years thus without taking into account the difference between hard and soft wood liea the rai 1 roads of the united states will require every year for maintenance of ties on e eveith of ties say cubic feet of timber for bridges oles treaties etc in all cubic feet in round numbers for renewals besides this if our in creased mileage each year is only mile sand it is likely to be aisch more cubic feet of timber will be required for new ties bridge ti etc making cubic deot in all equal to feet of round timber this is fully equal to the entire growth of new timber throughout the country and leaves no timber for building purposes it represents alie antiro product of acres of fertile forest land if is evident that at this rate it is a mere question of a few years when the cupply of timber will bo exhausted and the united states like great britain will have to import for construction there are two remedies one is to rouse the railroads to tho necessity of setting apart land of their own for growth of trees the other is the use of come other material than wood forties the department part ment has appealed to railroad managers throughout country to get them to plant treon but generally without success an exception to the rule has been tho southern pacific company which has planted many thousands of eucalyptus and other trees on lands adjacent toils lines with generally satisfactory rc sulta in california in the counties west of the sierra the experiments havo been uniformly successful on sierra the trees have not done as wall and in arizona and new mexico the have suffered not as might have bean expected from heat and drought but frost some promising plantations in arizona have beon seriously injured by frost but on the whole the plantations are thriving and when other corporations may be distressed for want of bics tics ano southern pacific will get all it needs from its own grounds matal ties are in use in holland switzerland and parts of germany and though the first cost is greater than that of wooden ties the longer life of the tie compensates for the greater initial outlay iron ties last from thirty to fifty years they should bo not less than one hundred and twelve pounds in weight the only road in america which them is the an from vera cruz to the city of mexico they are said to give entire satisfaction it haa been lately proposed to introduce them on the railroads of maine |