6 TRANSACTIONS OF ROVAL SCOTTISH AKBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



looked at from this aspect a price of 3d. per cubic foot standing 

 is quite worthy of consideration. The returns for woods within 

 50 or 60 miles of collieries would of course be much more 

 favourable. 



Only in a regular and systematic output is to be found the 

 secret of production at the lowest possible cost, and it is just in 

 this direction that Scottish forestry has — with certain notable 

 exceptions — been deficient in the past. In the endeavour to find 

 markets for small or inferior forestry produce, a careful and 

 accurate record of the cost of production is an absolute necessity, 

 and any initial profit, however small, is worth taking, with the 

 object of developing, through experience, a more lucrative trade, 

 and conferring a national advantage in the employment of 

 additional labour in country districts. 



2. Wood Charcoal — Its Manufacture and Use.^ 



By W. D. AsiiTON Bosr. 



[The following paper although written for the purpose of 

 correcting wrong ideas as regards the use of charcoal for 

 insulating purposes, is nevertheless of considerable interest to 

 foresters, as it touches upon many points concerning an almost 

 unknown industry in this country, namely, the manufacture of 

 wood charcoal and other products obtainable from the dry 

 distillation of wood. It is very generally admitted that if 

 sufficient raw material of the proper kind was available in this 

 country, new industries would spring up, among which it is 

 probable that those concerned with wood-derivatives would not 

 be the least important. At the same time, certain facts must be 

 brought to light by careful preliminary investigation before a 

 definite opinion can be expressed regarding the possible future 

 prosperity of an economic undertaking, but surely in this case 

 the object should be worth some little trouble. In a recent letter, 

 Mr Bost says : " I would particularly emphasise the fact that in 

 considering the advisability of starting wood distillation a little 

 knowledge is a most dangerous thing, and that it cannot pay 

 unless everything is known, down to the smallest detail, which 

 might affect either the gathering of the wood or the marketing 



' A piper road before the Inslitiitc of Marine I'^ngineers, Feb. 2, 1914. 



