A DlAKXXIAl, KlA'OUl) 



CHAPTKR III 

 THE FOREST PKODUCTS LABORATORY 



Establishment 



The national need for research in forest prodncts was recojrnizcd 

 from the earhest days of the Division of Forestry and became increas- 

 ingly apparent as forest exhaustion in the east advanced. Eventu- 

 ally it asserted itself. The scanty appropriations of the first decade 

 of American governmental forestry provided little money for research 

 in forest products, and between 1890 and 1910 work was mainly of a 

 cooperative nature and was done largely at various universities where 

 laboratory facilities were obtainable or buildings were available for 

 housing testing equipment. 



Studies of the mechanical properties of the more important woods 

 were begun at the universities of Washington, Yale, Purdue, Califor- 

 nia, and Oregon. Some preservation and kiln drying studies were 

 undertaken at Yale, research in naval stores initiated in the South, 

 and a small experimental pulp mill erected in Boston. Wood chem- 

 istry and the chemistry of wood preservatives were also handled in a 

 limited way at this latter place in 1907. 



During the following two years it became increasingly evident 

 that greater facilities for research would have to be provided, and that 

 centralization was essential to the success of the work. The very na- 

 ture of research demands coordination of all related facts and studies, 

 and this coordination is difficult to secure without centrahzation of 

 allied research agencies. 



A very large part of the research work of the Forest Service had 

 been carried out in cooperation witli various universities, M'hich had 

 been glad to ^^lace some of their facilities at the disj^osal of the service, 

 and so it M^as natural that, in the need for increased facilities, thouglit 

 should be given to the universities. A thorough canvass of Washing- 

 ton had already shown the utter futility of trying to rent suitable 

 quarters for the small sum availa])le. 



