The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-09-22
FOREST SERVICE
IS PRACTICAL
IT INCLUDES AN EXHAUSTIVE
STUDY OF WOODS.
The Use of Wood in Street Paving Is
Being Investigated Particularly This
Year by the Forestry Bureau.
New York SIM.

Year by the Forestry Bureau.
New York Sun.
ks The United States forest service has
begun a. study of woods for special uses
and will this season take up cooperage
woods, box and basket woods, vehicle
and implement woods and woods for
street paving.
> Paving with wood, in one form or
another, has been experimented with
in the United States for nearly seventy
five years. The first experience was so |
unsatisfactory that municipal engineers
for long time looked upon wood paw
ing with disfavor.
It was quiet, cheap and comfortable,
but it soon wore into holes and ruts, |
dered it unsanitary. while the wood
speedily decayed and had to be re-
placed. In recent years, however,
both knowledge and practice have i'm
proved. s1' .'7 >~4~ s:.-f
1t has been discovered that, with the
right selection and treatment of woods
and. the right method Of laying, wood
paving can be made successful; that a
good pavement, like good house.,
and that both absorption and decay
can be prevented in the wood by proper
chemical treatment. Consequently re-
Vival of wood paving has begun and
many Of the largest cities are again
| trying it. =
Few people realize the enormous cost
and Importance Of street pavements,
Measured by the money invested, street
paving IS probably the most important
single class of engineering construction
Eexcept steam railroads, the amount in
vested to date being estimated by
competent authority as approximately
| $515,000,O00 for the United States. =
Wood pavement is now made almost
exclusively Of one or two Of the best
come popular the drain upon these
woods would be seriously increased.
The forest service wishes to ascertain
If there are not among the various
cheaper and more abundant species
some which can by proper treatment
be substituted for the more valuable
kinds now in use. - T.&g
This study. will involve three princi:
pal, lines Of inquiry. The experience of
cities which have wood payements will
be compared. Laboratory tests will be
made OF various. woods. Finally, the
supply and location Of promising sub
stltutes will be considered. -.
:. The cooperage industry is one of the
most important branches of forest util-
ization. According to the twelfth cen
sus, the annual value of the slaves,
over $2o,ooo,OO0. It is estimated that
more than 100000 barrels, kegs, tubs
and similar articles are manufactured
daily in the United States.
Until very recent date the woods
chiefly used for cooperage were the
slow.growing hardwoods, such as oak,
elm, maple, ash, beech and birch. but
| with fhn 1ocf forr
poplar and latterly gum have. been
substituted to some extent, owing to
the diminishing supply Of the species
first exploited.
The. depletion of the supply of raw
material is felt strongly by the manu-
fa?eturer, who. finds it yearly more
d 81 to obtain n good stock. - Two
this condition-frst,, the increase in
the scooperage manufacture, which has
developed enormously in, the past
quarter century; and secondly, the ex.
tremely wasteful methods employed in
cutting, which have left the forests in
I a deplorable condition and often wasted
! NOR material than was used. Cut
4 ting for cooperage purposes is far more
4 wasteful than is ordinary 1umbering.{
The forest service in taking up this
+ question aims to make it's investiga
u tons. Of practical value to the cooper
age industry and it's operators. It is
\ planned to bring together information
& and the best methods of manufacture
& and the III effects of wasteful methods
q on the forest and possible remedies fol
n them. - 49,.
8 Particular attention will also bt
n given to study of the property Of
d substitutes which are more abundan:
81 than the species now used for cooper
81 age: >"
81 The amount of wood annually con
81 ssumed in the United States for pack
81 ing boxes and baskets cannot be give,
ID than is generally imagined. The stat
Of Michigan alone has forty-eight boz
= making establishments, with an annua
y, product valued at $2,27a,62l Othe
g g states have yet larger output.
B There is hardly a business in tn
q whole country which would not be III
b favorably affected by serious sh 81
M growing scarcity and consequent h;g
n price Of most of the woods low use
81 in this industry make necessary
M search for other suitable. woods an
b for means of regulating their suppl,
u in order that the future demand ma
b sured to the manufacturer withor
81 overtaxing the consumer:
b The study made by the forest ser,
81 ice will include the questions Of suppl
81 and demand as regards woods no
"a used, the. introduction Of other wooe
D as possible substitutes, for the scarce
b species, the demands Of the trade, tt
n physical and mechanical properties r
81 uuired in box and basket woods, an
n the methods of manufacturing them.
III s: AN AUSTRALIAN MYSTERY.