GOVERNMENT FOREST WORK. 39 



rates of growth and requirements of tie different 

 tree species, what methods of cutting will be followed 

 by the best reproduction of the most desirable kinds 

 of trees under varying conditions, the best methods of 

 nursery practice and of field sowing and planting, and 

 how best to protect the forests from fire and other 

 damaging agencies. The relation of forests to climate, 

 stream flow, and erosion are also investigated. The 

 forest experiment stations are so located as to afford 

 a wide range of conditions in different pa^ts of the 

 country. They are supplemented by diversified field 

 studies which round out a systematic search for the 

 basic knowledge required to make our forests fully 

 productive. 



Forest Products. 



It is just as important to know what to grow as 

 how to grow, and just as important to make the most 

 of what is produced as to make the forests produce 

 more material for consumption. The investigations 

 in forest products closely interlock with those in 

 forest management. Their object is to bring produc- 

 tion and consumption into the most advantageous ad- 

 justment, from the standpoint of the public welfare, 

 through study on the one hand of the raw material 

 that the forests produce and on the other hand of 

 the requirements of our industries and their processes 

 of manufacture. 



The bulk of this work on forest products is centered 

 at the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis., 

 maintained in cooperation with the University of Wis- 

 consin. Here intensive studies are made of the physi- 

 cal, mechanical, and chemical properties of wood and 

 wood products. These include tests of the strength 

 of practically all American woods of commercial im- 

 portance, studies in seasoning and kiln drying, wood 



