FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY. 



A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF ITS WORK AND AIMS. 



The Forest Products Laboratory is a unit in the Branch of Research of 

 he Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture. It is 

 ocated at Madison, Wis., and is conducted in cooperation with the 

 Jniversity of Wisconsin. 



For several years after its establishment, in 1910, it was the only 

 nstitution of its kind in the world conducted with the object of turning 

 he searchlight of research upon wood and its uses and making the infor- 

 nation thus obtained available to the public. 



PUBLIC SERVICE. 



SCOPE OF ACTIVITIES. 



The purpose of the Forest Service in the administration of the Forest 

 'roducts Laboratory is to conserve American forests by developing the 

 nost economical methods of converting standing trees into finished prod- 

 cts. The purpose is also to make the growing of timber more profita- 

 le by increasing the possibilities in the utilization of both used and 

 nused species. The Laboratory seeks to develop not only new and more 

 indent processes, but to find ways of utilizing material which would 

 therwise be wasted, to find new uses for old materials and new materials 

 or old uses. In a word, the aim is to render practical assistance to the 

 tianufacturers and users of wood and wood products and at the same time 

 o promote forest conservation and the practice of forestry. 



Every American industry and class of consumers which uses or grows 

 ood or any other product of the forest may thus be a beneficiary of the 

 ork done at the Laboratory. Every such industry, class of consumers, 

 nd timber producers is a potential cooperator in the Laboratory's work, 

 ts objects are sought not only through experiments conducted at the 

 .aboratory but also through the detail of its men to work on important 

 roblems in the mills and factories and the receiving of representatives of 

 he industries at the Laboratory to work beside its scientific men. 



VALUE OF WORK. 



The value of this work has already made itself apparent. The reduc- 

 on of waste, the better utilization of the products of the tree, the utiliza- 

 of species hitherto wasted, the added life given to^many kinds of 



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