NEED OF A NATIONAL PROGRAMME 103 



No acetone, a material of such importance at the 

 present moment owing to its use in the manufacture 

 of munitions, was imported from Russia during 1913. 

 As may be known, wood yields 2 to 6 per cent, of its 

 weight in pure acetic acid, which is extensively used 

 for making vinegar. In wood vinegar there is always 

 some acetone, which is a combustible liquid in which 

 oils, resin, and gun-cotton are very soluble. Acetone 

 is now, of course, used in the manufacture of propul- 

 sive powders. 



It would appear that Russia equally with ourselves 

 was far from appreciating the importance of this pro- 

 duct of wood or the danger of allowing Germany to 

 retain a practical monopoly of it. With our extensive 

 and valuable Indian forests and those in the Colonies 

 we could have supplied our own needs in this material, 

 and doubtless those of others also to some extent, at 

 this juncture. Russia with greater ease than ourselves 

 could have provided from her vast European forest 

 resources all that was needed. But factories and 

 plant are required and organisation, and all this takes 

 time, and is difficult to arrange for in actual war time. 

 We are getting to work now in this direction, but a 

 more general appreciation of the need of 'a national 

 afforestation programme and the economic importance 

 to a nation of maintaining a certain percentage of its 

 lands under woods worked on a commercial basis 

 would have prevented our present dangerous position. 



