FORESTRY IN THE EXHIBITION AT NURNBERG. 237 
More recently, artificial horse-hair has been produced from the 
same source. 
Yarn from wood is now an important article of commerce. 
It is found to dye and wash well, and to be very durable. It is 
to some extent replacing jute, cotton, and linen. 
By the action of alkalies, oxalic acid is now largely prepared 
from sawdust, too lbs. of the latter giving about 80 lbs. of the 
acid. 
Acetic acid has long been distilled from wood, the firm of 
Lanfach in Spessart, who are exhibitors, consuming annually not 
much short of a million cubic feet of beech timber in, this way. 
It is estimated that in the year 1900 about three and a half 
million cubic feet of wood were distilled in Germany for the 
production of four million pounds’ weight of acetic acid, most 
of which was used in the production of artificial indigo, though 
some went to make table vinegar. 
In the production of acetic acid, wood is placed in a retort 
and heated to a temperature between 536° F. and 608° F. 
It is found that wood treated in this way yields about 24 per 
cent. of charcoal and 50-54 per cent. of liquids, while 22-24 
per cent. goes off as gas. The liquid portion, by further treat- 
ment, yields 6-10 per cent. of tar, 3-10 per cent. of wood- 
spirit, and 54-64 per cent. of acetic acid. 
Doubtless the most important substance produced by the 
chemical treatment of wood is cellulose, for the production of a 
ton of which some 230 cubic feet of timber are required. 
In Lower Bavaria (Niederbayern) private forests cover an 
area of some 650,000 acres, and constitute 79 per cent. of the 
total wooded surface. In the beginning of last century there 
was a strong movement on foot in this district to split up and 
apportion communal forests amongst those who had rights over 
them, with the result that the present owners, in some cases, 
possess a piece of woodland only a few yards wide, and as little 
as a quarter acre in extent. Naturally, the management of these 
woodlands leaves much to be desired, and the State in 1900 
appointed six forest experts, with ten assistants, whose chief 
business it should be to effect an improvement in these private 
woods. State nurseries (covering 120 acres) for the supply of 
plants of the best quality at cost price have been established in 
many places, the number of young trees distributed last season 
being r8} millions 
