FOREST SERVICE. 417 



Statistics coverin.Ej the oiitp.'t of forest products for the calendar 

 year 1909 were collected by the Bureau of the Census in cooperation 

 with the P^'orest Ser\"ice. 



Statistics of consumjition of forest ]iroducts have keen taken up 

 cooperatively with the state forest oliicers in Massachusetts, North 

 Carolina, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Maryland. Statistics covering 

 the consumption of forest ])roducts in Illinois and in Districts 2, 3, 

 and 4 have been taken up entireh" ])y the Ser\"ice. The Massacliu- 

 setts and Wisconsin reports have already been issued. The North 

 Carolina, Maryland, and Kentucky reports are now in the hands of 

 the printer, and the Illinois and District reports are beinsj tabulated. 

 Except in the case of Illinois, all of the reports are published by the 

 State. 



These reports are intended to be useful to both p;rowers and manu- 

 facturers of wood. They show what part of the demand for each 

 species is met by forests and woodlots in the State and what part 

 is supplied from without. The kinds of wood demanded by the 

 various industries are shown, to,2:ether with the amount of each spe- 

 cies used, the prices paid at the factory, and into what product each 

 wood is manufactured. With this information before them, the 

 woodlot and timberland owners who are lookinoj to the future can 

 determine what kinds of timber promise best returns, and can <!;ive 

 preference to those kinds. Those who have timber or lumber to sell 

 can form an intellic^ent ojnnion as to the uses to which it can be put 

 and where the best market may be found for what they have to offer. 

 On the other hand, the manufacturer who is in the market for woods 

 of certain kinds will have the means to determine whether he can 

 buy near home or whether he must look beyond the State; and a 

 study of average prices paid by others will show whether or not he 

 has been buying on an equal footing witli others. A closer acc^uaint- 

 ance between buyer and seller, with a better understanding of what 

 one has to sell and what the other ^\'ishes to buv, is resultino; from 

 this work. 



Statistics covering the consumption of wood preservatives in the 

 United States in 1909 were collected from 46 firms, operating 64 

 timber-treating plants. This represented 93 per cent of the plants 

 in operation during that year. The figures show the use of 51 ,500,000 

 gallons of creosote, 16,250,000 pounds of zinc chloride, and small 

 quantities of crude oil, corrosive sublimate, coal tar, and water-gas 

 tar. This is a smaller (■onsumj)tion than that in lOOS, when 44 firms, 

 operating 04 treating plants, reported a use of 56,000,000 gallons of 

 creosote and 19,000,000 pounds of zinc chloride. Assuming that, 

 on an average, 1 gallon of creosote and one-half pound of zinc chloride 

 will ])rotect a cubic foot of timber from decay, more than 80,000,000 

 cubic feet of cross-ties, ])iling, j)oles, j>aving blocks, and mine and 

 other timbers were given a treatment that will greatly increase their 

 life and usefulness. These statistics were collected in cooperation 

 with the Wood Presei"vers' Association. 



Althouirli the hunb(>r industrv is the fourth larfrest manufacturing 

 industry in the United States, up to 1908 it had no authentic pub- 

 lished records of the selling prices of its products. During tliat year 

 the collection of price statistics was inaugurated by the Forest 

 Service. A list of wholesale prices in the j)rincipal markets of the 

 country was issued monthly until September 30, 1909, when it was 



73477°— AGR 1910 27 



