1560 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 



except where national-forest problems are concerned, it has direct 

 importance to the States as a means of improving and perpetuating 

 both the livestock industry and timber production. 



The need for expanding and intensifying range research that has 

 been pointed out justifies the full volume of appropriations author- 

 ized by the McSweeney-McNary Act and the continued increases 

 here recommended after the close of the period covered by that act. 



FOREST PRODUCTS 



The principal objective of forest-products research is to aid in 

 making timber growing more profitable through more efficient utiliza- 

 tion, and to aid in providing the public most economically with needed 

 forest products in the form that will render the most satisfactory and 

 efficient service. 



Wood meets keen industrial competition in many fields. The com- 

 petition offered to wood by other materials for example, steel, con- 

 crete, and brick for structural purposes, and different vegetable fibers 

 for fiber-board manufacture is due largely to research, which has 

 worked out adaptations, found new uses, improved qualities, and 

 lowered production costs. Wood can fully meet this competition only 

 if it is given the same advantage. 



Forest-products research is one of the most effective means of en- 

 abling wood to meet the competition of other materials, of keeping 

 up or increasing the consumption of wood, and thus of helping to in- 

 sure productive and profitable use of forest land. 



The major subjects now being studied at the Forest Products Labora- 

 tory are discussed in the section " Research in the United States Forest 

 Service : A Study in Objectives." They cover the whole field of wood 

 utilization, from the cutting of the tree to the grading, selection, and 

 conditioning of forest products ; the fundamental study of wood prop- 

 erties; the modification of these properties to resist decay, fire, or 

 shrinkage; methods of pulp and paper manufacture, and the use of 

 new species of trees for paper; the design and adaptation of forest 

 products with reference to strength and other properties ; and manu- 

 facturing processes such as gluing and painting. The laboratory tests 

 are supplemented by the work of the forest experiment stations in 

 various ways, notably through studies of the relation between growth 

 conditions and wood quality. 



In general, these investigations are directed toward increasing the 

 yields of merchantable timber from forest land, utilizing waste material 

 and tree species now considered inferior or worthless, and developing 

 new uses and improved practices. As a source of aid to the States 

 and to private timberland owners, many of the laboratory's researches 

 are of great importance. 



To reach the maximum authorization of $1,050,000 for forest- 

 products investigations under the McSweeney-McNary Act by 1938 

 will require annual increases of $110,000 for the four years 1935-38, 

 and the future development of this research on an adequate scale 

 will probably require similar annual increases for a number of years 

 thereafter. 



THE FOREST SURVEY 



The objective of the forest survey is to make an inventory of our 

 forest resources, determining the exact extent of our forest-land area, 



