Show government advocates use of lodgepole pine lodgepole Lodge polo pine of w which aich there are abundant stands in both tile rocky mountain and cout ranges when treated with pre preservatives ought to serve in the place of red cedar as a pole timber bais avs the department of agriculture in a bulletin just issued on rocky mountain woods for telephone poles the lapid extension of telephone and power lines in the west is making the question of polo pole supply one of increasing importance western red cedar for long the standard pole timber of the western states grows grois only in washington oregon and northern idaho and in the state south of that region its cost is high owing to the great greit distance over which it be transported in ili addition the heavy drain on oil the supply promises promis eito to result in increasingly higher prices ahe 1 he tendency of lodgepole pine to decay rapidly ii when lien in contact with the ground hoa his so far fir kept it out of the field as a competitor of the cedar according to the department but the general adoption of preservative treatment by railroad and telephone com companies pinies changes the situation at an all additional cost for treatment that still lea leaves es the pine pole the cheaper of the two wo in most markets outside the cedar region states tile department the pine may be made to last longer than untreated cedar tests earned on at the forest service laboratory also showed lodgepole pine to be as strong as the cedar if not actually stronger 0 fire killed lodgepole lodge pine of which there is a vast quantity in the rocky mountain region showed a strength under test 80 per cent that of live red cedar in elastic values the two were practically equal and in stiffness fire killed lodgepole pine is quite comparable to the cedar the prejudice against the use of fire killed material is a mistaken one says the department for there is no in herert difference in wood seasoned on the stump and wood cut when green and then seasoned sorl ed on many areas such material remains entirely sound for a number of 3 ears after the tile fire which killed it and besides is thoroughly seasoned ard thus ready for preservative treatment as soon as cut engelmann spruce 1 is another rocky mountain tree which the department part ment suggests might be used for poles it is not as strong as lodgepole pine nor does it take preservative ser serva Native tive treatment as well but it grows grons farther south and it 11 many districts id is the only local timber available for pole ubo ube |