Canadian Forestry JournaJ. July, 1915 



117 



ON THE NORTHERN TRAIL. 



Fire ranger and dog team in the Porcupine Forest Reserve, Saskatchewan. 



Gill University is consulted for general 

 reference works so that the task of accu- 

 iiiulatiiijj a special liljrary is very much 

 siin)tlified. A special system has been de- 

 vcloiiC'l for the collecting and indexing of 

 information as accurate and comprehensive 

 knowledge is necessary in connection with 

 the library work and the answering of 

 intpiiries which are received in large num- 

 ber. I'reliminary plans have been made 

 for the collecting and exhildting of wood 

 specimens, samples of treated wood, liulji 

 anil p.'iper. wood ilistillates and the other 

 numerous pro<lucts which can be ol)tainetl 

 from the raw material furnished by our 

 Canadian forests. 



Timber Tests. 



Our Hatt-Tnrner Impact testing machine 

 and .10,(100 lb. Olsen Universal machine 

 have been installed in the University test- 

 ing laboratory. The 200,000 Hi. Wicksteed 

 and l.jit.OdO lb. Kmery maidiines which 

 form jiart of the university e(|uipment 

 have also been in frecpient use for tindier 

 testing. Arrangements have also been 

 niaile for adjusting the university's (Ki.OnO 

 Richie testing machine for our work. With 

 very little effort and expense on the part 

 of the laltoratories there has been made 

 available the most com|detp and satisfac- 

 tory testing e<|uipment in Cana'la and too 

 much cannot Ife said of the generosity and 

 courtesy of McGill University in ]>lacing 

 these excellent machines at our disposal. 



Project Xo. 1, "Mechanical and Physi- 

 cal Properties of Canadian Woods as De- 

 termined by Tests on Small Clear Speci- 

 mens'' was undertaken for the purpose of 

 estalilishing the strength characteristics of 

 the important Canadian wood species. The 

 testing ])rocedure includes eight strength 

 tests — static bending, compression par- 

 allel to grain, compression jjerpemlicuiar 

 to grain, shear, tension, impact bending, 

 cleavage and hardnes.s. The first species 

 under test is Douglas Fir. obtained from 

 Alberta anil Britisli Columbia. The results 

 have shown that tlie fast growing Dougbus 

 Fir of the Pacific Coast has unusual 

 strength and that the slower growing and 

 smaller mountain types, although more af- 

 fected by knots and other defects are of 

 very good (piality. The tests confirm tho 

 fact that our Canadian l:)ouglas Fir is a 

 first-class structural material. 



Project No. 2, "Strength Functions and 

 I'hvsii-al Properties of Nova Scotia Mine 

 Timbers" has been carried on during the 

 last half of the year in connection with a 

 general investigation of Nova Scotia mine 

 tind)ers instituted by McGill University in 

 co-operation with the Forestry Branch. 

 Over seven hundred representative pit 

 pro|>s and booms were obtained from Xova 

 Scotia, including five species — Black 

 Spruce, Balsam Fir, White Birch and Yel- 

 low Birch. Most of these timbers have 



(Continued on page 135.) 



