116 OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 



dollars' worth of the dye is now being manufac- 

 tured annually in the United States and practically 

 all from material which was formerly wasted. 



The discovery that sodium fluoride is superior 

 to sodium carbonate in preventing sap stain in lum- 

 ber promises to reduce materially the present esti- 

 mated loss of $7,000,000 from this cause. 



Industrial Investigations. The function of the 

 Office of Industrial Investigations of the Branch 

 of Forest Research is to conduct statistical and in- 

 dustrial studies of uses of wood in the United 

 States. The aim of these investigations is to de- 

 termine methods and conditions under which wood 

 is now used ; the marketable products obtained from 

 it; tendencies in methods of manufacture; and im- 

 proved methods possible, especially in the util- 

 ization of waste. When practicable, such investi- 

 gations are followed by the commercial application 

 of their results. This office also conducts all sta- 

 tistical investigations of the production and use of 

 forest products. 



The work of industrial investigations includes 

 the following: collection and compilation of statis- 

 tics on the production and consumption of forest 

 products, prevailing market and stump age prices, 



