FOREST SERVICE. " 197 



rect application in aiding the present war program. New problems 

 are constantly presenting themselves. 



The question of rapidly drying gunstocks has been a matter of 

 prime importance. The work already done along this line in co- 

 operation with large arms companies was of great help in furnish- 

 ing companies with gunstock contracts with necessary data to cut 

 their losses to a minimum. The possibility of using laminated gun- 

 stocks in place of the standard one-piece stock has been under inves- 

 tigation. Such gunstocks would make usable much smaller pieces 

 and a considerably larger portion of the black walnut cut. 



Under ordinary commercial practice oak and other vehicle stock 

 has been air-dried, requiring a period of from two to three years. 

 The greatly increasing demands of the war for dry material have 

 rapidly depleted surj)lus stocks of dry material, which are now ap- 

 proaching the point of exhaustion. Tests have shown that oak under 

 proper methods can be dried with a much smaller percentage of loss 

 in kilns than in the open air, and the period of drying reduced from 

 two or three years to two or three months. The investigations have 

 been placed at the disposal of a great number of manufacturers of 

 war orders. The assistance given these manufacturers has included 

 the design of a large number of kilns, with a consequent vastly en- 

 larged kiln capacity, and the improvement of drying methods. 



On account of the shortage of tin the use of fiber containers made 

 from wood pulp has been considered for many new purposes. 

 Investigations made in cooperation with the Ordnance Department 

 and the Food Administration have yielded results of definite prac- 

 tical usefulness in the packing of ammunition. 



The Forest Service has been called upon also for investigations in 

 connection with wood-distillation products for various military uses. 



The laboratory is cooperating in the training of men to act as box 

 experts in the various offices of the War Department, as box in- 

 spectors at ports of embarkation and manufacturing plants, and as 

 box makers. A considerable number of kiln operators and inspectors, 

 glue experts and inspectors, and in general experts and inspectors 

 on wood for practically all of its numerous uses in modern warfare 

 are being trained for the Army and for private manufacturers. 



A large part of the work done along all lines has already had direct 

 application in specifications for raw and final wood products, in 

 design, in technical processes of manufacture, and, in fact, in almost 

 every phase of selection, purchase, and utilization. The services of 

 members of the Forest Service are in constant demand for advice 

 and assistance of this character in both the Army and the Navy. 



FOREST INVESTIGATIONS. 



From early in the war urgent demands have been made upon the 

 Forest Service for information regarding various kinds of timber 

 which were not being produced in sufficient quantities, such as spruce, 

 black walnut, bark and acid wood for tanning, and wood fuel. In- 

 formation was also needed on species which were in danger of run- 

 ning short of grades particularly necessary for specific war purposes. 

 Among the woods of this group are chiefly the eastern hardwoods — 

 the oaKs, the ashes, hickory, basswood, beech, birch, rock elm, and 

 maple. 



