BUREAU OF FORESTRY. 197 



compounds in wood, and also the action of tlie timber-destroj'ing organ- 

 isms on such compounds. The investigations are complex in charac- 

 ter, but their practical import is the light which they shed on the 

 various problems of wood preservation. 



In consequence of the discovery that the methods of analysis employed 

 by various chemists to determine the amount of zinc chlorid in sam- 

 ples of treated timber do not secure uniform results, the cause of the 

 variation was investigated and discovered, and new methods were pro- 

 posed which will avoid the error. 



Studies in Tijiber Peeser^^atign. 



WESTERN. 



This work consisted of seasoning and treatment tests of certain 

 inferior woods. The use of many of the inferior woods in the West 

 will depend upon successful methods for dryinp- them rapidly and 

 evenly so as to prevent decay, excessive checking, and warping. 

 With the rapidly increasing use of the softer woods, the Bureau was 

 called upon to give information concerning them, particularlv as to 

 how to prevent rapid decay. During the past year ties of various 

 timbers were experimented with. The reasons for selecting ties for 

 these experiments were that large numbers were obtainable, without 

 cost to the Bureau, from various railroad companies interested in the 

 results, that the subject of tie preservation is in itself of main impor- 

 tance, and that in this way conclusions of general application may be 

 secured. 



Tests were made of ties of the following woods: Longleaf, short- 

 leaf, and loblolly pine, at Silsbee and Somerville, Tex.; red and black 

 pine, spruce, and fir, at Rociada, Las Vegas, and Pecos, N. Mex. ; 

 lodgepole pine, at Sheridan, Wyo., and Bozeman, Mont.; and fir, at 

 Tacoma and Pasco, ^^'ash. 



TESTS OF LOBLOLLY AND SHOETLEAF PINES IN TEXAS. 



The loblolly pine investigations at Silsbee, Tex., were carried on in 

 cooperation with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. It has 

 been commonly supposed that loblolly pine timber could not be held 

 successfully for any length of time before use. Various species of 

 fungi attack the wood very soon after cutting, and render it valueless 

 with great rapidity.- In the tests at Silsbee 500 ties of loblolly pine 

 were cut every month, and weighed immediately. They were then 

 piled in open piles of various forms, some with and some without a 

 roof. All ties were reweighed at regular monthly intervals to deter- 

 mine their rate of drying. The same process was carried on with 

 shortleaf pine, and to a certain extent with longleaf pine. 



As a result of the year's work it can be asserted that loblolly pine 

 timber when properly piled can be held in Texas for eight months or 

 more without decajdng. In that time it will lose approximately 40 

 per cent of its weight by the evaporation of the water contained in the 

 wood. These results have an important beaiing upon the use of lob- 

 lolly pine. A bulletin on this subject is in preparation. 



Further experiments with methods of piling loblolly were carried 

 on at Somerville, Tex. Some 250,000 sawed and hewed ties were piled 

 in various ways to determine the possibility both of reducing the cost 



