30 MISC. PUBLICATION 290, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
species now considered inferior or worthless. The work includes, for 
example, determination of the strength properties of wood, improved 
methods of fabrication and design, wood preservation by chemicals to 
prevent decay and decrease inflammability, painting and gluing of 
wood, pulp and paper making possibilities of various species, im- 
proved methods of seasoning, chemistry and chemical utilization of 
wood, and methods of selective logging to bring about the profitable 
and permanent management of forest properties. 
The bulk of the work in forest-products research is centered at the 
Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis., with some affiliated 
work at the California, Pacific Northwest, and Northern Rocky 
Mountain Forest Experiment Stations, and at Washington, D. C. 
F-2432€4 
FIGURE 23.—Norway pine plantation on the Huron National Forest, Mich. 
FOREST ECONOMICS 
Investigations in forest economics cover the entire range of eco- 
nomic and social problems involved in the production of forests and 
in the utilization of forest resources. ‘They consist particularly of 
investigations of forest land and forest land manegement. 
The series of correlated projects under way includes studies to 
determine the economic feasibility of timber growing; equitable 
methods of forest taxation; the possibility and principles of forest 
insurance; the extent of tax delinquency and reversion to public 
ownership of forest land and the practicability of remedial measures; 
and the collection, classification, and interpretation, in cooperation 
with the Bureau of the Census, of economic data on the production, 
distribution, consumption, and price of forest products. 
A comprehensive survey of the forest resources and requirements of 
the whole country is now in progress. This is a nation-wide economic 
study of our forest-resource situation involving an inventory of the 
extent, location, and condition of forest lands; the quantity, kinds, 
