202 DEPARIMENTAL REPORTS. 



the brittlenes8 of wood with an impact testing machine devel9ped b_y 

 the Bureau, and a method for testing the resistance to abrasion of 

 wooden paving blocks. 



EXPENDITUKES. 



The total expenditures during the j'ear under the head of Forest 

 Products were 142,525.20, or 12 per cent of the total appropriation of 

 the Bureau. 



WOEK FOR THE COMING YeAR. 



The seasoning tests in cooperation with the Atchison, Topeka and 

 Santa Fe Railway at Silsbee will be continued, and a number of ties 

 alread}' seasoned at this place will be marked with dating nails and 

 jjlaced in the track, together with unseasoned ties, to determine their rela- 

 tive lengths of life. The piling and treating experiments at Somer- 

 ville will likewise be continued, and a number of seasoned and green 

 ties will be laid in the tracks of the Southern Pacific Railway and 

 frequently inspected. The seasoning tests with New Mexico timbers 

 will go on in cooperation with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe 

 Railwaj' at Pecos and Rociada, and further treating experiments will 

 be made at Las Vegas. 



Treating tests in cooperation with the Chicago, Burlington and 

 Quincy Railway at Sheridan, Wyo., and Bozeman, Mont., will be 

 continued. One of the principal questions to be determined by these 

 experiments is the penetration of preservatives into seasoned wood 

 previously subjected to the steaming process, as compared with the 

 peneti'ation into wood that has not been subjected to steam. 



The seasoning experiments alreadj^ in progress in cooperation with 

 the Northern Pacific Railway at Tacoma and Pasco, Wash., and in 

 cooperation with the St. Louis and San Francisco and Illinois Central 

 I'ailways in Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee will also 

 form part of the work of the year. 



Other timber treating and testing work will be conducted in coop- 

 eration with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company at St. Louis. 

 A complete impregnating plant and several timber -testing machines 

 have been installed on the grounds of the St. Louis Exposition, and a 

 large number of ties, principally of loblolly pine and red oak, will be 

 treated and tested at this station. 



Seasoning and treating experiments in cooperation with the Ameri- 

 can Telephone and Telegraph Company will be continued in New Jer- 

 sey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, "Maryland, and Virginia, and 

 further experiments will be conducted at Marinette, Wis., and Esca- 

 naba,^Iich., in cooperation with the Postal Telegraph-Cable Company, 

 the Wisconsin Central Telephone Company, the 'Wisconsin Central, 

 the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, and the Chicago and Northwest- 

 ern railway companies, and with the State of Wisconsin. Particular 

 attention will be paid to the effect which soaking in water exerts upon 

 the rate of seasoning of cedar and tamarack. 



Experiments will be made to determine the best method for piling 

 and classifying cross-arms in order to season them in the shortest time. 

 These experimental arms will afterwards be treated at Norfolk, Va. 

 The seasoning experiments on ties made from Adirondack hardwoods 



