412 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



through the perfection of laboratory methods and, following this, 

 the establishment of standards for expressing the properties of 

 wood pulps. Previously the results of the experiments could be ex- 

 pressed only by an empirical inspection of the samples of pulp pro- 

 duced, the value of tne inspection depending entirely upon the 

 judgment of the inspector. Until this difficulty was overcome it was 

 impossible to record the results of these investigations so as to enable 

 them to carry anv assurance of the reliability of the conclusions. 



Another difficulty now overcome arose from the absence of adequate 

 apparatus. Congress provided in the sundry civil bill $30,000 for 

 paper-pulp investigations. With the assistance of the National 

 rulp & Paper Manufacturers' Association, a laboratory with the 

 most approved types of commercial equipment was installed at 

 Wausau, Wis., about January 1, 1911. Experiments have since 

 been under way. They have already demonstrated the suitability 

 of jack pine and hemlock for pulp. Samples of the pulp have been 

 manufactured into paper under commercial conditions, and it seems 

 very probable that the paper mills of the country may, with their 



fTesent equipment, operate so as to use both hemlock and jack pine, 

 t is proposed to continue these investigations until it has been con- 

 clusively determined what species available in the United States 

 may be used for the production of news and cheap print papers. 



Experiments were made to determine the suitability for chemical 

 pulp of jack pine, dead and green tamarack, and other species easily 

 accessible to the pulp mills; and also to establish the relations 

 between different factors entering into the production of wood pulp 

 and the quantity and quality of the pulps produced. A line or In- 

 vestigations of much greater economic importance studied the 

 suitability of different forms of mill and forest waste for the manu- 

 facture of chemical fibers. A most excellent grade of Kraft pulp 

 was produced from clean western yellow-pine mill waste. Ex- 

 cellent pulps were also made from southern yellow pine. These 

 studies, however, have not progressed far enough to warrant definite 

 conclusions. 



Naval Stores Industry. 



The production of turpentine and rosin has always been confined 

 in this country to the longleaf pine belt. The industry has gradually 

 moved southward from the Carolinas to Florida, and westward into 

 Louisiana and Texas, seeking new sources of supply. The ordinary 

 period of operation on the same trees is only three or four years. 

 Unless improved methods are applied or new fields for operations are 

 opened the industry faces an early exhaustion of the timber from 

 which its raw material is derived. 



Experiments conducted by the Forest Service have demonstrated 

 conclusively that present methods of chipping are unduly severe on 

 the vitality of the tree, and that by decreasing both the depth and the 

 height of the chip much more gum can be secured, while the period 

 of operating can be extended almost indefinitely; and contracts for 

 turpentining on the Florida National Forest are being carried out 

 with great success under the conservative methods developed by 

 the Service. The results attained indicate that the production of 

 naval stores can be made a part of forest management, and combined 

 with the timber crop rotation in such a way as to provide for a sus- 



