PUTTING WOOD WASTE TO WORK 149 



the manufactured articles. This new method of 

 construction which makes full use of odds and 

 ends and slabs and edgings offers a profitable 

 way to make use of the 75 per cent, of material 

 which now is wasted. 



The vast importance of preserving our forests 

 is emphasized when one stops to consider the 

 great number of uses to which wood is put. In 

 addition to being used as a building material, 

 wood is also manufactured into newspaper and 

 writing paper. Furthermore, it is a most impor- 

 tant product in the making of linoleum, artificial 

 silk, gunpowder, paints, soaps, inks, celluloid, 

 varnishes, sausage casings, chloroform and iodo- 

 form. Wood alcohol, which is made by the de- 

 structive distillation of wood, is another impor- 

 tant by-product. Acetate of lime, which is used 

 extensively in chemical plants, and charcoal, are 

 other products which result from wood distilla- 

 tion. The charcoal makes a good fuel and is 

 valuable for smelting iron, tin and copper, in the 

 manufacture of gunpowder, as an insulating ma- 

 terial, and as a clarifier in sugar refineries. 



It is predicted that the future fuel for use in 

 automobile engines will be obtained from wood 

 waste. Ethyl or " grain" alcohol can now be 



