A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 679 



fication of wood have as yet received little or no consideration. 

 Incidentally, it should be possible to work out methods for the pre- 

 vention of undesirable stream pollution in pulp making. 



In modern industry the general tendency which is becoming more 

 and more rapid is to improve the properties of natural materials of 

 all kinds through modification. Materials in their natural state, 

 regardless of intrinsic merit, are facing more and more severe compe- 

 tition from other substances in which properties have been modified 

 and improved, and this in such a way as to meet relatively exacting 

 and varying requirements and specifications. For example, in an 

 article on Steel Takes Research into Partnership, by E. E. Free, 

 published in the December 1931 issue of the Review of Reviews, the 

 following statement is made : 



Dr. John Johnston, director of research of the United States Steel Corporation, 

 recently listed 31 physical and chemical properties of steel which can be altered, 

 more or less at will, by changes in chemical composition, in heat treatment or 

 otherwise, to control the atomic structure of the metal. 



Wood in order to hold its own in present-day and future competition 

 must be given the same strategic advantage, and the only reasonable 

 possibility of doing it successfully is by research. 



DESIGN AND ADAPTATION 



Design and adaptation cover investigations of those uses of wood 

 in which the strength properties are most important. Increase in 

 strength of unit pieces of wood by treatment has not been attempted, 

 but instead ^the purpose has been by proper design to use at their 

 highest efficiency the intricate normal strength properties of wood. 

 This work of necessity includes not only the wood itself but also the 

 various joints and fastenings by which the pieces of wood are held 

 together, and which are a common and serious source of weakness. 

 The most detailed and complete design work has been done on wooden 

 airplane parts and on boxes and crates; in the latter field the work 

 has already progressed to the final stage of determining the actual 

 strength requirements of wood packages in service. A beginning 

 has been made on house and other structures in the building and con- 

 struction field. A large amount of investigative work has been done 

 on such joint and fastening accessories as bolts, nails, and glues. 



On the fundamental principles which must underlie improved 

 design in building and construction, the field for research is enormous. 

 Applications should be possible which will revolutionize construction 

 both in form and costs and bring back to wood a part at least of the 

 advantages which it has been losing during the last few years in 

 competition with other construction materials. Building and con- 

 struction, although the largest single consumer of lumber, is only 

 one field requiring work. The availability of moolified forms of wood, 

 such as fiber boards, plastics, etc., create additional problems in 

 design. 



PROPERTIES 



The foregoing groups of investigations consist largely of direct 

 attacks on the practical problems of wood utilization. Investigations 

 for obtaining the basic information required for proper furtherance 



168342 33 vol. 1 14 



