A Decennial Kkcord 75 



CHAPTER VII 

 HOW TO USE THE LABORATORY 



To a greater or less degree every wood-using industry of the 

 country is a prospective user of the Forest Products I^aboratory or 

 the data available there. This statement is made with a fair apprecia- 

 tion of the vast complexity of the inter-relation of the many different 

 aspects of this great primary industry. Sooner or later in the long 

 process from the forest giant growing peacefully in the fastness of the 

 far-away hills to the finished article of commerce containing wood in 

 its make-up, a number of contacts of common interest will be devel- 

 oped by every one of these industries, however unrelated the ultimate 

 products. Economies in logging, in saw mill practice, in kiln drying, 

 in the elimination of loss all along the line, in the development of means 

 of utilizing what is now waste by-product, all these will ultimately 

 affect the wood user through cheaper or more stable supplies of raw 

 material, whether this user be a man building a house, a plant turning 

 out wagons, a pulp manufacturer, or the maker of wooden mouse 

 traps. The laboratory, through its contact with all phases of forest 

 products, has something of interest to all of these. 



The prospective user should think of the laboratory as a big 

 reservoir of facts bearing on his industry, which he, as a taxpayer, has 

 helped to create and w^hich he can tap on demand. If he is engaged in 

 a business that has a relatively wide bearing on wood and its use — for 

 instance, wood preservation, pulp and paper, kiln drying — he will find 

 liere information in great detail, even the most complete data in exist- 

 ence bearing on his problems. ^lany minor fields and side trails of 

 the vast ramifications of the wood-using industries have also lieen 

 probed to a greater or less degree, or, if pro])lems in these lesser lines 

 have not been specially covered, light may be thrown on them through 

 knowledge obtained by work done in related fields. 



"Ask and it shall be given you", might ])e the first suggestion for 

 using the la])oratory. The daily quota of laboratory mail contains 

 many requests from all parts of the United States and usually a num- 



