REPORT OF THE FORESTER. 37 



lumber in the United States were compiled at short intervals. Stump- 

 age prices were obtained for the different commercial species through- 

 out the United States, furnishing data especially useful to the Serv- 

 ice in its timber sales. 



Addresses were delivered before 19 meetings of lumber manufac- 

 turers, wood users, and engineers. Thirteen trade bulletins furnished 

 short statements of the scientific and practical results of investiga- 

 tions, and were widely used by the trade and technical journals. 



WORK OF THE ENSUING YEAR. 



The section of wood chemistry will study wood preservatives, wood 

 distillation problems, and pulpwood. There are great possibilities 

 in the utilization of wood waste by chemical means, and the Forest 

 Service will energetically seek their development. To secure in- 

 creased efficiency in administration and operation, the chemical lab- 

 oratory will be brought from New Haven and the pulp laboratory 

 from Boston to Washington, where they will be combined under one 

 roof. The possibility of profitably distilling fat Douglas fir will be 

 studied on the ground, and in the South field work will seek methods 

 of properly refining and grading yellow pine distillation products 

 under commercial conditions. The leading yellow-pine manufactur- 

 ers have offered to contribute toward this work. 



Besides computing forest tables, timber tests, seasoning experi- 

 ments, tree measurements, and other lines of Service work, the section 

 of computing will gather in the field supplementary measurements 

 on Douglas fir, sugar pine, and possibly several other Pacific Coast 

 species. 



The section of wood uses will continue to secure accurate and 

 authoritative data upon the uses, properties, and market conditions 

 of the commercial timbers of the country, and also to develop fields 

 of usefulness for timber that is at present largely wasted. The 

 mechanical and physical properties of redwood timbers and of the 

 California tanbark oak, large quantities of which are at present 

 being cut for the bark only, will be studied. The work upon Cali- 

 fornia eucalypts will be continued. 



The study of the effect of different methods of drying and treating 

 woods will be continued and the tests of Douglas fir car sills will be 

 completed. It is expected to begin a series of tests upon creosoted 

 Douglas fir and yellow pine bridge stringers in cooperation with 

 some of the leading railroad companies. Tests upon shortleaf pine 

 from Arkansas comparable with those already made upon loblolly 

 and longleaf pine will establish the relative values of these three 

 important southern woods. 



Field studies u;pon the market conditions and the uses of some 

 of the timbers found in the National Forests will be supplemented 

 by tests made with the special purpose of demonstrating the useful- 

 ness of species which are now regarded with little favor. Work has 

 been started on incense cedar, amabilis fir, and western larch. 



WOOD PEESEEVATION. 



While the field of wood preservation in the United States is broad- 

 ening, the principles of the different processes are now receiving 

 closer scrutiny. The Forest Service is looked to for reliable and 



