1906 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



383 



Ale and 

 Beer Stock 



question as to their identification. 

 After barking, the wood will be 

 chipped, cooked in the model digester, 

 blown out into the blow-off pit, washed 

 and screened. The fiber will then be 

 formed into sheets by hand, and the 

 water removed with a power press. 



The object of the Forest Service ex- 

 periments will be to make sulphite pulp 

 in this manner from a large variety of 

 American woods. The various fibers 

 will be studied miscroscopically, and 

 good-sized samples of the pulps will be 

 available for distribution among the 

 pulp and paper makers that they may 

 judge of the usefulness of the various 

 pulps for general or specific purposes. 



Forty-three manufactur- 

 ers of ale and beer barrel 

 stock have sent reports 

 of their output during 1905 to the For- 

 est Service. These, in connection with 

 previous statements from the manufac- 

 turers of the packages produced from 

 this stock, give some insight into the 

 importance of white oak, since that 

 wood is the only one that can be used. 



The total number of staves reported 

 is 12,578,000, and of heading 2,167,000 

 sets. In round numbers that means 

 material for approximately 1,000,000 

 packages, or an average of \2 l / 2 staves 

 to the package, which is about the 

 averages number of staves in the quar- 

 ter-barrel size. A set of heading means 

 material for one complete head, which 

 may be of one or more pieces. 



The returns from the different states 

 show that Kentucky produced by far 

 the largest quantities of both staves 

 and headings. 



Xo wood other than white oak will 

 answer for ale and beer barrel stock, 

 nor indeed for any cooperage intended 

 to contain alcoholic liquids. Red oak 

 has been used for oil to a slight ex- 

 tent, and also for vinegar and packing- 

 house packages. Local use in Oregon, 

 California, and Massachusetts makes 

 fir, spruce, and pine, respectively, per- 

 missible but by no means preferable. 

 Gum and cypress are used for sirup, 

 and ash is used in small quantities for 

 pork and miscellaneous packages. The 

 white oak used for ale and beer pack- 



ages must be of the very highest grade, 

 for, unlike most other tight cooperage 

 stock, it is split by hand instead of be- 

 ing sawed. Because of this method, 

 only the choicest trees, straight-grained 

 and free from knots or other defects, 

 can be used. 



A more detailed report will be pub- 

 lished later. 



Manufacturers of red 

 Success in , ,. , , 



Kiln Drying & um heading boards 

 have been rather helpless 

 against heavy losses from warping, 

 molding-, and checking:, and, in addi- 

 tion, against the inconveniences of be- 

 ing obliged to wait for long periods of 

 time for material to dry in the yard. 



To improve these conditions, the 

 Forest Service, in co-operation with a 

 firm in Arkansas, undertook some ex- 

 periments which show that red gum 

 heading boards can be successfully 

 dried green from the saw. 



The details of the experiments were 

 essentially different from other kiln- 

 drying tests on cooperage stock, and 

 the kiln itself was of a type that had 

 never been used on such material. The 

 kiln consists of a chamber 80 by 20 

 feet, the front part of which can be 

 partitioned off by dropping a heavy 

 canvas curtain. The whole kiln is made 

 as nearly air-tight as possible, none of 

 the heated air being allowed to escape 

 nor any cold air to enter. The steam 

 pipes which furnish the heat are dis- 

 tributed throughout the entire length 

 of the kiln, as are also a series of con- 

 densing coils. 



Condensation takes place in the up- 

 per portion of the kiln, which contains 

 cold-water coils along one side, con- 

 nected in pairs. Each pair of coils is 

 controlled by a valve and a hot-water 

 thermometer on the outside of the 

 kiln, so that the temperature of the in- 

 terior at any point is under complete 

 control by the operator, and the rate of 

 condensation can lie made as rapid or 

 as slow as desired. The circulation is 

 created by means of those condensing 

 coils. The currents of moist air have 

 only to travel across the kiln to come 

 in contact with the cold-water coils, 

 and be freed of the moisture with 



