FOREST CONSERVATION BY BETTER UTILIZATION 



683 



more to suggest the profitable and practical field which 

 lies ahead. 



Since we are considering the general subject of making 

 timber last longer, it is perhaps proper to mention first 

 the possibilities of timber preservation. Of ties alone 

 the railroad and electric lines of this country use approxi- 

 mately 120 million a year of which about 28 per cent 

 are treated. The average life of a railroad tie properly 

 treated is 15 years; of an untreated tie about 7}4 years. 

 If all ties were treated the average consumption would 

 thus be reduced one-half or to 42J/2 million ties, a saving 

 of over i l / 2 billion board feet. In its report of 1920 

 the Tie Committee of the American Railway Engineering 

 Association estimates the saving would be somewhat 

 greater or about two billion board feet. 



Railroad ties, however, are not the only wood prod- 

 ucts subject to profitable preservative treatment. If we 

 include in addition poles, posts, piles, mine props, 

 shingles and lumber used under conditions much subject 

 to decay, the annual sa\yng by the application of efficient 

 preservative practice would amount to some 6 billion 

 board feet. It is too much to expect of human nature 

 that every stick of timber which technically ought to be 

 treated will be treated but it is within the realm of reason 

 to save some 4 or 5 billion feet of timber by extending 

 standard treating practice. 



Segregating the secondary wood-using industries which 

 can use large quantities of cut-up or dimension stock, it 

 is found that their total consumption amounts to 8 or 9 

 billion feet. Deducting 25 per cent to cover the large 

 dimension sizes bought in standard lumber dimensions, 

 there remains some 5 or 6 billion feet of small dimension 

 stock. For the most part this stock comes from standard 

 lumber sizes and to that extent diverts standard lumber 

 sizes from uses requiring standard dimensions. How 

 much of this small dimension stock might be made up 

 by closer utilization at the mills or by interchanged utili- 

 zation among the wood-using industries it is impossible 

 to say, but there is a great field here for conservation by 

 developing a more intense manufacturing of slabs, 

 edgings, crooked, small and defective logs now wasted. 

 It has been estimated that all requirements for this small 

 dimension stock could be met from timber now wasted. 

 If that is the case it would reduce the present drain upon 

 our forests some 5 or 6 billion feet. 



The forest requirements of the paper industry of the 

 United States amounts to some 6 million cords annually 

 of which about 4 million cords are utilized by processes 

 other than groundwood pulp. We are leaning on Canada 

 for 20 per cent of this supply. The best utilization that 

 has thus far been accomplished under chemical processes 

 is 45 per cent of the wood substance. Thus for every 

 cord of wood pulped by these processes some 55 per cent 

 of the original weight of the wood is lost. In terms of 

 our annual consumption of pulpwood this amounts to 

 over 2 million cords. It is the usual practice for pulp 

 mills to store their wood over considerable periods and 

 recent investigations indicate that improper methods of 

 storing result in an actual wood loss of 10 or 15 per 

 cent in the weight of the wood. This means an annual 



loss to the industry and to the nation of 575,000 tons of 

 pulpwood with a valuation of over $11,000,000. But the 

 waste of pulpwood does not end here. The raw wood is 

 converted into groundwood pulp, and much of it must 

 necessarily be ground during periods of high water then 

 held in storage. Infection with consequent decay is apt 

 to occur causing a large annual loss estimated by the 

 industry at $5,000,000 annually. Thus systematic studies 

 to develop most efficient practices in this field, should fur- 

 ther reduce the present drain upon our timber in hand. 



It has been estimated that there is an annual loss ex- 

 ceeding one billion feet in the seasoning of lumber. 

 While this may not be a complete loss in the sense that 

 the lumber cannot be used, it is a drain upon higher 

 quality material and contributes directly to the accumu- 

 lation of low grade and less usable lumber. By the intro- 

 duction of proper methods of kiln drying, it should be 

 possible eventually to cut that loss in two. Similarly in 

 the steam bending of material going into furniture, vehi- 

 cles, etc., there is a large loss of high quality lumber much 

 of which it would be possible to save by systematic studies 

 and investigation to determine how various species can 

 be bent with minimum loss. The great box industry using 

 some four and a half billion feet of lumber annually, 

 offers another field for relieving the annual drain upon 

 our forests. This industry is already engaged in the 

 development of boxes which will not contain more lumber 

 than is necessary to serve the purpose. What saving 

 would be possible in this field cannot, of course, be esti- 

 mated but during the war boxes which were tested at 

 the Forest Products Laboratory and then redesigned on 

 lines of balanced construction showed savings in lumber 

 ranging from 20 to 40 per cent. This, of course, is very 

 much higher than would be shown for the average com- 

 mercial box. 



Every year our forest principal is being reduced use- 

 lessly by some 4 or 5 billion feet destroyed by fire and 

 other natural agencies. This loss, of course, should be 

 reduced to a minimum and while it possibly does not 

 come under the category of conservation by better utiliza- 

 tion, it is a source of loss that should have the active 

 attention of every industry using or dependent upon 

 wood. 



There is undoubtedly a great volume of wood which 

 goes into the waste heap at various wood-using factories 

 which is subject to salvage through some sort of a wood- 

 waste exchange or clearing house of information estab- 

 lished by the industries themselves. This would lead 

 unquestionably to much material, which is now scrapped, 

 finding a market elsewhere. There are today many in- 

 dustries using grades of wood which are being burned 

 as waste in other industries. This is due to ignorance of 

 wood-using requirements and the lack of an effective 

 medium by which different factories or industries may 

 gain a clear idea of relative market requirements 

 and the possibilities either of acquiring waste lumber 

 from other industries or of disposing of their own waste 

 to factories which can use it. 



It would be possible to go on touching the various 

 (Continued on page 691) 



