A Dkckxniai. Ki'.c'oKi) <>:i 



CHAPTKK \'I 

 Fl TIRK KKSKARCTI IX FOREST PRODIcrS 



The laboratory, passing, as it did. tlirouo-h the war witli a large 

 measure of serviee to its eredit, is now in tlie post-war adjustment 

 period, sailing out on a new taek. T'lie immediate realignment of 

 forces, following the armistice, the reduction in personnel, the clean- 

 ing up of war projects, and the a])plication of facts learned during tin- 

 war to peace time industries and processes, have been told earhcr in 

 this book. The two years that have ela])sed since the armistice have 

 seen the adjustment largely completed. 



What of the futin-e. of the problems still unsolved, the fields of 

 research visioned from this point, the beginning of the second decade 

 of the Forest Products Laboratory's existence? Such a vision exists, 

 and its keynote is the reduction of the annual drain upon the remain- 

 ing forests of America by more economical utilization. A vision of 

 service to the wood-using industries of tlie country and a desire to stop 

 the widening of the alarming gap in America's economic fabric — the 

 shortage of timber to meet our present standard of civilization — are 

 essential parts of this vision. 



Some of the problems facing the wood-using industries are given 

 briefly below, together with their relation to ])ast and ])resent work 

 of the laboratory. A number of ])hases of tliese ])r()blems are being 

 worked on now, in so far as provision has been made to finance them, 

 either through Federal appropriation or through cooperative funds. 



Tlic Mechanical Proj)cri}cs of IFood 



The laboratory's work in this field has been centered upon deter- 

 mining the mechanical properties of the different important commer- 

 cial species of the United States. At the outbreak of the war sonie 

 130 different species had been tested, and the results of tliese tests 

 formed the foundation for practically all of the laboratory's war work 

 where the strength of timber was a factor. This data, still incomjdete. 



