16 FORESTRY INVESTIGATIONS U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



edge even of our most important timbers as is needful. \Ve must admit, with a certain sense of humiliation, that 

 I he A meriuans show us what we really ought to know and that they have already by far surpassed us in the elaborate 

 oruani/atum for these investigations. 



And the Secretary himself adds: "if in less than a decade Americans have ill a forestry 

 specialty surpassed Germany, why can not we a generation hence rejoice in the most efficient 

 forestry system of the world .'" 



If any words of interest and appreciation of this work from home sources are wanted, they can 

 be found in the technical journals of the lumber trade, of engineering, of architecture, of carriage 

 building, and of all branches of wood working, as well as in the large number of letters on file in 

 the Division, the gist of a few of which are printed in Bulletin 0, and, furthermore, in a series of 

 resolutions passed by various societies of engineers and architects and other bodies, addressed to 

 the Secretary of Agriculture and to Congress, asking for a continuance of and better support for 

 this work. ^Nevertheless, iu 1890, in spite of the protestations of the writer, this line of work was 

 ordered discontinued as "not germane to the subject of the Division." 



It should not be overlooked that the increase in the appropriations for the Division, which 

 dates from the year 1892, was made specifically for this investigation, and was continued impliedly 

 for the same purpose. 



While the full value of such extended investigation is only apparent after being long contin- 

 ued, and when the bearing of all data and facts collected can be fully recognized, the following 

 tangible results, immediately applicable in actual practice, can be pointed out as testifying to the 

 value of the work for which it was instituted, namely, the more economical use of our forest 

 resources. 



The publication of the results of the first investigation brought about the removal of the long- 

 standing prejudice against the value of timber of Longleaf pine, which had been bled or tapped 

 for turpentine. Hitherto specifications by architects and engineers were usually made so as to 

 exclude bled timber, and although in general such specifications were ignored by those who fur- 

 nished the material, some of the largest consumers, such as the railway companies of the South, 

 effectively discriminated against such material, and much litigation and disappointment was the 

 result. 



By bringing out the truth in the matter not only was the industry of turpentine production 

 exonerated from the charge of bad economy, but a value, which has been variously figured at 

 from $-',000,000 to $4,000,000 annually, was added to the Southern pineries by the assurance that 

 the bled material could be safely used. 



The Division of Forestry was the first to establish reliable values as to the strength of out- 

 most important lumber frees for the use of engineers, who hitherto had to rely upon very doubtful 

 values derived from unsatisfactory tests made on European species, or else on a few insufficient 

 tests of our own species. 



So great was the confidence in the methods pursued by the Division that its results were 

 immediately embodied into the standard manuals of engineering, as, for instance, in Trautwine's 

 Engineering Pocketbook, the companion and reference book of every American engineer. 



The fact that Longleaf pine is from 20 to 25 per cent stronger than heretofore believed, 

 renders it possible, to effect a saving of fully $0,000,000 worth of this wood per annum if applied 

 to all of this material used. A similar factor of economy might have been established for other 

 woods which have been investigated. The fact established by the Division, that seasoned 

 material is stronger by 50 to 75 per cent than fresh timber, added a very considerable opportunity 

 for saving in the design and specifications of structures under cover. 



"The capital invested in timber structures is greatly in excess, probably more than two or 

 three times as much as that invested iu structures of iron and steel. Every piece in these latter 

 structures is thoroughly inspected, both chemically and physically, and is carefully designed to 

 carry the imposed load. Timber structures, on the other hand, have been designed according to 

 the general principle that the Lord takes care of His own, as the great number of fatalities result- 

 ing from failure of these structures will attest." By furnishing reliable test data, based on a large 

 series of tests, not only economy in the use of our forest resources, but a saving of life and prop- 

 erty, could be effected. By furnishing the necessary data, now largely absent, upon which to base 

 the inspection and specifications for wood material, the factor of safety could be placed on a proper 

 basis. These objects have beeu iu view in this series of investigations. 



