TIMBER PHYSICS METHODS. 



;:77 



In order to 860 how far tin- formnl.-c ni.iv In- :i]>plir:ihh- t.i l>e:iins ol' (lie same material tlio d:ila obtained on the 

 small beams cut IVoni one of the larjjo beams were subjected to scrutiny, basing the calculations on the ilata from 

 the adjoining compression block. The calculated result compared with the actual breaking load showed a most 

 ciiiiviiicini; similarity, as will lie apparent from the table herewith presented: 



Sli-ini/tli of XIIKI/I lii'iinm, calculated by \ecly' x formula- from cnmprcxximi /rr>i<ith, on the assumption Unit Hit' rclalirc 

 ponition of tin- neutral jil/ine /it rupture i* the xame an found hi large, beams. 



[Shortleaf pint-, hir^e beam Xo. 13, 



l s<-rirn.] 



a Failed, dne to knot. 

 NOTE. Columns of figures in same distinctive type to be compared one with the other. 



On tbe whole, it is in no way boastful to assert that this work has already furnished prac- 

 tical data enough to more tlian pay the expenses incurred ten times over; that its fruits are not 

 half gathered, and that for more than a quarter of a century its results will serve as a basis for 

 the user of wood and as the guide to the teacher and experimenter. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCIENCE OF TIMBER PHYSICS AND METHODS EMPLOYED IN THE 



INVESTIGATION. 



Since the elaborate plan and methods of this study of our woods denotes an entirely new 

 departure in timber investigations, at least in our country, it is only fitting to place the credit for 

 its conception, for the elaboration of the plan, the organization of the work, and the persistent 

 prosecution of the same in spite of many drawbacks and lack of support. This credit belongs to 

 Dr. B. E. Fernow, chief of the Division of Forestry. The plan was first foreshadowed in his second 

 report (1887, p. 37) as chief of that division, and the word "timber physics" was there used for 

 the first time, and the essentials of the future plan were there. discussed. In a small tentative 

 manner the first steps to put it in operation were made in 1888. In the report for 1889 we read : 



The investigations into the technology of our timbers and especially into the conditions upon which the qual- 

 ities of our timbers depend for which Mr. Roth of Ann Arbor has begun preliminary studies has also made but 

 slow progress for lack of means. - 



Iii the report for 1890 we find, besides an account of the tests on Northern and Southern oaks 

 referred to before, the statement that "by the increase of appropriations the forest technological 

 investigations referred to in former reports have become possible on a scale which was hitherto 

 unattainable," and a description of the plans is given. But the first fuller statement of the 



