198 ANNUAL REPORTS OP DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 



As substitutes for Sitka spruce the eastern red and white spruces 

 were first investigated. A very comprehensive study was made of 

 the available supply of eastern red spruce, which facilitated its use 

 by the Navy for airplane construction. In addition, the supplies 

 and grades of Port Orford cedar, western white pine, Douglas fir, 

 incense cedar, redwood, cypress, western hendock, the true firs (silver, 

 noble, white and lowland), and sugar pine have been investigated. 

 The eastern white and Norway pines and yellow poplar, which next 

 to spruce are the most promising eastern species, were covered in con- 

 siderable detail by field studies. Purchases are already being made 

 of a number of these substitutes by the Allies and the United States. 



Black walnut is of prime importance for the construction of pro- 

 pellers and for gunstocks. That its value was appreciated by the 

 German Government is attested by the fact that large quantities of 

 it were exported to that country in the years immediately preceding 

 the war. The production of black walnut has been considerably 

 increased since the United States entered the war and is now prob- 

 ably talring place at the rate of about one-fifth of the country's 

 total stand per year. The Forest Service has been assisting the War 

 Department in its campaign to stimulate the production of walnut 

 for war uses. Several men have been maintained in the field since 

 early spring looking up supplies of timber. The States Relations 

 Service has given very valuable cooperation in the search for walnut 

 timber. Detailed studies were made of the methods of manufacture, 

 with a resulting increased efficienc3^ 



The Forest Service also cooperated with the Boy Scouts in con- 

 ducting an organized search for black walnut. 



There might seem to be little connection between the Army's 

 requirements for shoes and the forests, but in point of fact the im- 

 mense quantity of heavy leathers required for the large order of the 

 new Pershing shoes brought the country face to face with a serious 

 shortage of tanning materials. Under normal business conditions 

 the tanning industry of the United States uses about 175,000 tons 

 annually of imported tanning materials. Owing to the scarcity of 

 ships it was impossible for the Shipping Board to provide space for 

 such a large amount of material. The Forest Service therefore un- 

 dertook a study of the domestic tanning industry at the combined 

 request of the Shipping Board and War Industries Board. A thor- 

 ough canvass was made of the cliestnut extract plants in the South- 

 ern Appalachians and of the bark producers in the North. It 

 was found that the supply of wood on hand at the plants was 

 only about 40 per cent of the normal supply, and that the plants 

 were producing only about 70 per cent of their possible out- 

 put. The reasons for this situation were found to be lack of woods 

 labor and of transportation facilities, shortage of coal, shortage of 

 labor at the plants, and delayed transportation of the finished prod- 

 ucts and the return of tank cars. Owing to the labor situation the 

 price of acid wood in many localities has advanced from $5. .50 to 

 $10 per cord of 160 cubic feet. The amount of chestnut oak bark 

 and other barks on hand was also found somewhat below normal. 

 As a result of the investigation the War Industries Board, in cooper- 

 ation with the Labor Department, the Railroad Administration, and 

 the Fuel Administration, took remedial measures so that the extract 

 plants could run at increased capacity. 



