NOTES AND COMMENTS 245 



Approximately 10,390 acres of denuded lands within the National 

 Forests were reforested in the fiscal year 1916. The total number of 

 trees planted was 6,146,637, while 8,280 pounds of tree seed were 

 sown. 



The National Lumber Manufacturers' Association, in its campaign 

 for extending market for lumber, has established an engineering 

 bureau (E. A. Sterling, F. E., Cornell, in charge), which issues a 

 series of "Technical Letters," short and practical bulletins on various 

 uses of wood, written by experts. Nine such letters, running from 

 four to twelve quarto pages, are before us. The subjects so far dis- 

 cussed are : Creosoted wood block paving, and specifications for 

 same; tests of fire retardents, undertaken by agents of the associa- 

 tion, with special reference to shingle roofs ; building code sugges- 

 tions regarding details of construction; economics of concrete and 

 timber factory buildings; timber in pier and wharf construction, and 

 descriptions of Chicago's great $4,000,000 pier and other docks. 



We cannot but admire the scientific spirit which lies behind this 

 commercial advocacy of the use of wood, which cannot fail to increase 

 its more rational employment. 



A rapid method of kiln-drying eastern hemlock has been developed 

 at the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wisconsin, whereby 

 shiplap can be dried green from the saw to shipping weight in 48 

 hours. By this method two-inch planks can be dried to shipping 

 weight in six to eight days. 



Announcement has been made by the United States Forest Serv- 

 ice that a census of the lumber products of the country for 1916 

 will be undertaken by the Lumber Manufacturers' Association. There 

 are over 30,000 sawmills in the country, and it is planned to have 

 coinplete data from every sawmill in operation. 



x\n investigation recently completed at the Forest Products Labora- 

 tory, Madison, Wisconsin, was designed to show the cost of waste 

 disposal in lumbering. The result arrived at is that for every 1,000 

 feet of lumber sawed in the United States it costs from 11 to 22 

 cents for disposal of waste material yearly, the total for the United 

 States annually amounting to about $6,000,000. An account* of this 



