952 JOUKNAI. OF FORESTRY 



use, including paint and white-lead manufacture, and the bleaching and 

 dyeing industries ; acetate of soda, used in textile industry ; wood alco- 

 liol, used in connection with the aniline-dye industry and also in the 

 manufacture of soaps, perfumes, and methylated spirits; formaldehyde, 

 used also in the manufacture of aniline dyes and in large quantities as 

 a preventative of smut on grain. The establishment of the soda-ash 

 industry in western Ontario will enable Canadian enterprises to expand 

 on lines that were formerly closed to them. New processes have been 

 evolved for the manufacture of acetone. The old process was by the 

 distillation of acetate of lime, a by-product in the manufacture of char- 

 coal and still the most general source of acetone. One of the new 

 processes involves the treatment of calcium carbide. 



Shell boxes manufactured in Canada for the Imperial Munitions 

 Board from the autumn of 1914 to September 30 last are valued at 

 $26,000,000. The official figures show that the quantity of boxes manu- 

 factured during that period was 22,470,000. Ammunition-box manu- 

 facture contributed to a large degree toward maintaining stability in 

 the wood-working industry during the early period of the war. It was 

 not long before 175 to 200 concerns were in the market for munitions- 

 box contracts. Furniture manufacturing establishments, planing mills, 

 and sash and door factories were all eager to engage in the production 

 of shell boxes. About 24 types of boxes have been manufactured for 

 the British Government, including hundreds of thousands of T N T 

 and cordite boxes, as well as smokeless-powder boxes. Six-inch how- 

 itzer shell and i8-pounder shrapnel boxes were probably the most 

 numerous. The average percentage of moisture contained in the lum- 

 ber when delivered must not exceed 15 per cent of its weight. Each 

 lot of lumber submitted by the manufacturer as being fit for use in 

 shell boxes has to be examined by a Government inspector, and a favor- 

 able report on the moisture content has to be received before the boxes 

 can l)e shipped. 



The British Reconstruction Committee (under a minister of recon- 

 struction, with some 80 subcommittees), by its forestry subcommittee, 

 recommends a central forest authority, equipped with funds and powers 

 to formulate a comprehensive forest policy, and especially carry out an 

 ambitious reforestation plan. The report of this subcommittee has pro- 

 voked recommendations of suggested procedure from various quarters, 

 ])ublished in the Quarterly Journal of Forestry for July. One writer, 



