Canadian Forestry Journal, February, 1918 



1559 



FOREST BRANCH ROLL OF 

 HONOR 



The British Columbia Forest 

 Branch during the past three years 

 has furnished a large percentage of 

 recruits for service overseas, the stafT 

 in all parts of the province having 

 frequently been reduced to skeleton 

 proportions by the frequent enlist- 

 ments. Casualties have been many 

 and some of the wounded foresters 

 have already been returned from the 

 front as unfitted for further service. 

 Fourteen of the gallant fellows will 

 return no more, having given their 

 lives in the cause of freedom. The 

 honor roll to date is as follows: 



Capt. J. B. Mitchell, M.C., Lieut. 

 J. R. Chamberlin, F. B. Wheatley, 

 A. J. Pickup, V. K. Wood, A. Rees, 

 W. A. Boultbee, P. Johnston, V. A. 

 Harvey, N. F. Murray, R. F. Irving, 

 P. McLennan, G. R. Malcolm, and 

 Mr. Ash. 



Lieut. J. R. Chamberlin, of the 

 Royal Flying Corps, was the only 

 ofTicer whose remains were sent back 

 to Canada for burial. 



LAUNDRY BILLS AND FORESTS 



Who would think of attributing 

 increased laundry bills to the forest? 

 And yet acetic acid, so necessary to 

 the cleaning of linen, is indirectly a 

 forest product and has grown re- 

 markably scarce. 



The U. S. government needs every 

 ounce of acetone tliat acetic acid can 

 furnish. 



"Part of the reason why some 

 laundries have advanced the price 

 to four cents each for collars became 

 apparent on Saturday," remarks the 

 Philadelphia Ledger, "when it be- 

 came known that the United States 

 Government was likely to take over 

 control of the acetic acid industry 

 on very much the same lines w^hich 

 have been applied in the case of 

 ammonia. 



"It is understood that the Govern- 

 ment, in the interest of obtaining an 

 adequate supply of acetone for war 

 purposes, has undertaken to control 

 the distribution of acetic acid 

 throughout the country, and that 

 word to that effect, if it has not al- 



ready been circulated among the 

 trade, will be sent out this week. 

 Acetic acid has long been a standard 

 chemical in the cleaning of collars 

 and other white goods. 



A minor effect is likely to be seen 

 in the production of benzoates, no- 

 tably benzoate of soda; which is 

 largely used by some manufacturers 

 of foods. Acetic acid is largely used 

 in the manufacture of synthetic ben- 

 zoates, and Federal control may cut 

 down the production." 



Hardwood distillation yields raw 

 pyroligneous acid, wood gas and 

 charcoal from beech, birch and mapl?;. 

 From the tar of the pyroligneous 

 acid come wood tar, acetate of lime 

 and wood alcohol. From the acetate 

 of lime, acetic acid is made. 



From acetic acid, acetone is made 

 and used in manufacture of the high 

 explosives, known as cordite and 

 lyddite. Just now there is an enor- 

 mous demand for acetone in manufac- 

 ture of cordite. 



Wood alcohol is various degrees of 

 purity enters into the production of 

 aniline dyes, formaldehyde, photo- 

 graphic films and smokeless powder. 



TROPICAL FORESTS 



There are at least two very large 

 forest regions in the tropics. These 

 are the Amazon region of South 

 America and the Indo-Malay region 

 of southeastern Asia and adjacent 

 islands. The forested region of the 

 Amazon River basin comprising an 

 area of 1,600,000 square miles is the 

 largest in the world. The forested 

 area of Borneo Sumatra the Philip- 

 pine Islands the Malay Peninsula 

 and Burma is roughly estimated to 

 be not less than 500,000 square miles, 

 or nearly as large as that of the 

 United States. Thus the forested 

 area of these two tropical regions 

 alone comprises more than 2,000,000 

 square miles. Contrary to the usual 

 opifiion it is claimed that tropical 

 forests are not all composed of hard 

 woods fit only for special purposes, 

 but that they have a much larger 

 percentage of soft and medium hard 

 woods which it is quite practicable to 

 develop economically. 



