FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY. 25 



trees, and producer gas manufactured from wood. The chemical deriv- 

 atives of cellulose, while not yet touched upon, also offer a fertile field 

 for investigation. 



INDUSTRIAL INVESTIGATIONS. 



MECHANICAL UTILIZATION OF WASTE AND LOW-GRADE MATERIAL- 



Mechanical as well as chemical processes offer a promising field for 

 the profitable utilization of wood now wasted and for the steadily 

 increasing amount of small and low-grade material coming from second- 

 growth stands. Only 30 per cent of the wood in a forest now gets into 

 the form of seasoned, unplaned lumber. Of this, an additional 10 to 25 

 per cent is lost in the process of manufacture. In extreme cases as little 

 as 3 per cent of the wood in the forest may reach the finished product. 



SURVEY OF WOOD WASTE- 



How to reduce to a minimum these losses in logging and manufacture 

 constitutes a research problem of far-reaching scope and significance. 

 The Laboratory has undertaken a comprehensive survey of the present 

 practice and its results in some of the more important wood -using 

 industries. This will be followed by more intensive investigations of 

 equipment, methods, and processes with a view to determining possible 

 modifications and improvements. These investigations will be con- 

 ducted both in the woods and at the mill and will include studies leading 

 to increased efficiency of operation as well as to closer utilization. 



DIMENSION STOCK. 



The manufacture of small-dimension stock offers a striking example 

 of the opportunity for reducing present wastes in manufacture. It has 

 been estimated that all of the five or six billion board feet used each 

 year in the manufacture of articles made from such stock could be 

 secured from material now wasted. Whether or not this is true, there 

 is no question that present wastes could be greatly reduced by standard- 



