CORRELATION OF AMERICAN FOREST RESEARCH 171 



have not, however, prevented researches of another character. The 

 American railroads are paying from $30,000,000 to $40,000,000 

 annually in claims resulting largely from imperfect containers. A 

 few months' work showed that four additional nails at each end of 

 certain kinds of wooden boxes increases by 300 per cent their ability 

 to withstand the punishment ordinarily received in transportation. 

 This result helps also to insure a place for low-grade lumber, one of 

 the crucial points in present-day utilization in many regions. 



As I have said, the physical properties of wood are being deter- 

 mined. At the same time these data, as they are secured, are being 

 applied in industrial practice, chiefly in the artificial seasoning of 

 lumber. The way has already been paved for the reduction of indus- 

 trial losses through improper seasoning running into millions of dollars 

 annually, and also for the successful utilization of species heretofore 

 regarded as of comparatively small value because they could not be 

 dried without great loss. 



Although the chemical survey has to the present covered only a 

 comparatively few woods, it has developed methods where there 

 were none, and has already shown its practical value. For instance, 

 in the utilization of spruce for pulp it was found that only about 

 three-fourths of the material suitable for pulp actually appeared in 

 this form at the completion of the manufacturing process. While 

 methods were being developed for a thoroughgoing study of the 

 chemical composition of all American woods, studies were also con- 

 ducted into the possibility of improving methods of hardwood dis- 

 tillation. It was found that through a very simple temperature control 

 the yield of acetate of lime could be increased commercially by 15 

 per cent and of alcohol by 30 per cent, and this with practically no 

 increase in operating costs. The improved methods developed have 

 been adopted by a large percentage of the hardwood distillation plants 

 in the Northeast. Improved methods for the production of ethyl 

 alcohol from wood waste promise to permit its manufacture at a 

 cost which will allow competition with that produced from other 

 organic materials. A comparatively simple investigation has demon- 

 strated the possibility of using the dye principle found in the osage 

 orange, and the economic conditions brought about by the European 

 war and the Mexican revolutions have already permitted the develop- 

 ment of an entirely new industry aggregating a million dollars 



