﻿10 BULLETIN 12, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



long service as paving blocks, if properly treated with preservatives. 

 Some of its most promising future uses may reasonably be looked for 

 through the aid of preservative treatment. 



DISTILLATION. 



The most valuable by-products of beech are obtained by distilla- 

 tion. Mention has been made of early beech charcoal. Methods 

 much more effective and less wasteful are now employed in making 

 this commodity, and a number of additional products are now ex- 

 tracted. Destructive distillation is to-day carried on with great suc- 

 cess ill large and costly plants. Beech, of course, is not the only 

 wood put through the process, but it is one of the most important 

 hardwoods, the others being birch and maple. In 1909, in the United 

 States, 1,149,847 cords of hardwood were distilled. The kinds and 

 quantities of the products were : 



Charcoal bushels__ 53,075,102 



Crude alcohol gallous__ 4, 468, 0S3 



Gray acetate pounds__ 148,769,479 



Brown acetate do 2, 156, 907 



Iron acetate gallons— 302, 624 



Oils —do 37, 995 



An average cord of wood by this process of distillation yields : 



Charcoal bushels__ 46. 16 



Crude alcohol gallons 7. 37 



Gray acetate pounds 129.39 



Brown acetate __do 1. 88 



Iron acetate quart 1 



Oil gill— 1 



The average cost of a cord of wood was $3.32, and the value of the 

 product extracted was $6.65. 1 



These products enter into many arts and trades. Charcoal is used 

 as fuel for home, bakery, and shop, and in blast furnaces, in the 

 manufacture of gunpowder, and for filtration in sugar refineries. 

 Wood alcohol is a fuel, but its principal use is as a solvent in mak- 

 ing varnishes and shellacs and in the manufacture of perfumery, 

 dyes, and commodities of a similar kind. The acetates are valuable 

 for making wood vinegar, acetic acid, ether, and acetone. 



BY-PRODUCTS. 



Beech wood is considered best for the manufacture of pharmacopoo- 

 ial creosote, employed in medicines for pulmonary diseases. This 

 creosote is not poisonous as coal-tar creosote is. The laws of Austria 

 require that pharmacopccial creosote shall be manufactured from no 

 wood but beech. The bark of beech is employed in tanning in 

 Europe, but is so used little or not at all in this country. Oil made 



1 These figures are based on statistics given in " Forest Products of the United States, 

 1900," pp. 163-167, compiled by the U. S. Census in cooperation with the Forest Service. 



