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98 abstracts: forestry 



In the case of Egyptian cotton, a type supposed to be of hybrid 

 origin, there is a strong presumption that the mutative tendency is due 

 to complex or remote hybridization, although the evidence is against 

 the conclusion that the mutants are immediate products of hybridiza- 

 tion between different types of cotton. T. H. K. 



FORESTRY. — Yields from the destructive distillation of certain hard- 

 woods. L. F. Hawley and R. C. Palmer. Bulletin of the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture 129. Pp. 16, with text figures. 

 1914. 



The chief hardwoods used for distillation in this country are beech, 

 birch, and maple. Tests were made to determine the relative value 

 of these three species, as well as the amount of various products which 

 could be obtained from such soilthern woods as the oaks, red gum, 

 tupelo, and hickory. Various woods were distilled under similar con- 

 ditions and their products analyzed by the same methods. It was 

 found that the yields of alcohol and acetic acid vary a great deal among 

 the different species, more so for the former than for the latter. A 

 given species may rank low in its yield of alcohol and high in its yield 

 of acid. Thus, chestnut, which gives the lowest yield of alcohol, 

 is among the highest in the yield of acid; and hickory, which is among 

 the highest in alcohol yield, is among the lowest in acid yield. 



The average yield from beech, birch, and maple wood grown in 

 Wisconsin and Indiana is somewhat higher for acid and considerably 

 lower for alcohol than for the same species grown in Pennsylvania. 

 The relative yield of the three species in either product does not change 

 with the locality. The order of yield for alcohol is beech, maple, 

 birch; for acid, birch, beech, maple. 



Although slabs with a large amount of bark are usually considered 

 very poor material for distillation, the yields of alcohol and acetic 

 acid from slabs having as high as from 13 to 25 per cent bark by volume 

 were in most cases only slightly lower, and in some cases even higher 

 than from heartwood. This was not due to the bark, however, but to 

 the very high yields from the sap wood. 



Assuming that the value of the charcoal and the cost of plant 

 operation per cord of wood is the same for all species, the differences 

 of the value of alcohol and acetic acid produced by the various woods 

 represent the differences of the value of these woods for distillation 

 purposes. The average value of the alcohol and acetate woods from 

 Indiana beech and Wisconsin birch and maple heartwood is $8.06 per 



