Forestry
Forest Products
Meetings and Conventions
Personalities
The items appearing here are condensed selections of news thought to be of interest to readers of UNASYLVA. The Editor will be glad to receive direct from readers authenticated items of interest and of news value for this part of the review.
Forest Resources and Utilization
FRANCE
Forest exploitation in the landes is assuming an increasingly industrial character; row-seeding of pines is more and more frequent and exploitation is currently started after 45 years. Sowing is done by machines which clear the undergrowth and sow two hectares per hour. Seeds required for the replanting of the vast areas recently destroyed by fire are to be provided from permanent sources, supplemented by a yearly supply of 50 to 120 tons of seed from Portugal. This development does not blind foresters to the fact that it may have serious disadvantages. Pure stands of maritime pine, Pinus pinaster, are harmful to the soil and are vulnerable to attacks by insects and pests. Abundant undergrowth constitutes a fire hazard. Research, therefore, is being directed towards the formation of mixed stands. According to the types of soils, there may be possibilities. for red oak, Quercus borealis, Oriental planes, Platanus orientalis; red gum, Liquidambar styraciflua; certain Mediterranean silver fir varieties, Abies spp.; and perhaps also Corsican pine, Pinus nigra corsicana; mountain pine, Pinus montana; and various Asiatic pines.
INDO-CHINA
Some 35,000 hectares of Pinus merkusii have been tapped for resin since 1942 and production has risen considerably. Tapping has been the best way of putting to use old, sparse stands under sound management. The method of tapping is the same as that used for the maritime pines of the. landes. Tools, however, have been adapted to the requirements of local labor and the schooling of workers was difficult.
KOREA
About 73 percent of the total area of the country (16 million hectares) is covered with forests. Sixty percent are privately owned, 33 percent state owned, and 7 percent the property of the provinces. Local climatic conditions favor softwood forests mixed with birch in the north and pines and hardwoods in the central and southern regions. The two main coniferous species are Korean pine, Pinus koraiensis, and red pine, Pinus densiflora. The latter is of very small girth, often twisted, and is usually cut at the age of 25 to 30 years. Because of increases of population between 1700 and 1900, the forests around the main population centers have been heavily overtaxed and erosion damage has been serious. By 1910, 65 percent of the wooded surface was denuded or left thinly covered. The Japanese administration embarked on an extensive reforestation program and enacted legislation protecting forests. By 1930, some 8,100, hectares were being planted yearly. This program, however, was not continued after the invasion of China, and the need for fuelwood again depleted the forests. Notwithstanding its relatively high percentage of forest, Korea can supply only 78 percent of her wood consumption needs. The division of the country into two parts by the Russian and American occupation zones has created new difficulties. The northern zone, under Russian occupation, contains 60 percent of the forest area and produces about 70 percent of output but has only 30 percent of the population. Methods of production and utilization are still primitive.
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES
An important lumber industry is being planned for Netherlands Borneo. Forest concessions have been allotted and the exploitation of conifers is expected to comprise a large part of the lumber activities. An initial investment is to be made in a large sawmill with an annual capacity of 120,000 m3 of timber. An agreement has already been made whereby the Department of Public Works and Waterways will be supplied with 20,000 m3 of timber annually for a period of five years. A cellulose factory is also planned as an auxiliary industry to the timber activities. The government has been invited to contribute up to 30 percent of the total capital needed for the entire enterprise. The venture is of vital concern to the authorities, inasmuch as its success would encourage further exploitation of the large timber resources of the country and would contribute materially to the prosperity and industrial growth of this underdeveloped area.
UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA
Before the war, about 2.2 million m3 (78 million cubic feet) of softwoods were imported annually and the country was entirely dependent on imports for 'supplies. An extremely critical timber position might have resulted during the war, had not the yield of South African plantations been increased from 85,000 m3 (3 million cubic feet) to 708,000 m3 (25 million cubic feet).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that for the early part of 1947 sawmills had the worst accident rate in industry. Of the six industry groups having the highest frequency rate, five were woodworking groups. The average number of disabling work injuries per million employee-hours worked is shown below for these groups.
|
Sawmills |
67.9 |
|
Combined sawmill and planing plants |
56.0 |
|
Planing mills |
44.8 |
|
Iron foundries |
43.6 |
|
Wooden container plants |
42.8 |
|
Plywood mills |
40.9 |
Logging had an even worse accident record than sawmills but is not reported an a "manufacturing" industry.
An investigation is being undertaken into the financial aspects of forestry in New England woodlands to ascertain how the region can get the most benefit from its forest resources. The investigation will cover forest lands, and the uses and markets for their products, in order to determine what practices will ensure the maximum yield of forest products on a sustained basis. Possible financial impediments to sound forest management,. such as taxation and fire risk, will be investigated and programs will be fostered to 'secure expanded use;' of forest lands for wood products, recreation, and other purposes. The material assembled by the investigation will also be used by banking institutions in order to revise their policy affecting lending operations to land owners, forest operators, and wood-using industries.
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
A forest of 100-year-old cedars disappeared in the explosion of the Sikhote-Alin meteorite which fell in the Siberian coastal mountains northeast of Vladivostok early in 1947. A scientific expedition reported that the meteorite apparently broke up before reaching the earth. It formed 106 craters and holes in an area of 12 km. x 600 in., as well as 250 meteorites weighing 5 tons in all. Near the main crater the dense forest is said to have disappeared completely, whereas around the smaller craters individual trees remained standing, though shot through with meteoritic fragments.
Forest Policy
ARGENTINA
The two main objectives of the government's forest policy have been summed up as the conservation of present resources and the afforestation of denuded soils. A country-wide investigation is ascertaining the best methods to be used in carrying out the government's forest policy, thereby doing away with the system of forest concessions which has been branded as "legalized devastation." The legal instrument for the implementation of this policy will be the forest protection law which is actually a whole code of forest legislation. This forest protection law is part of the legislation for industrial protection and development and part of the five-year plan for 1947 to 1951.
FRANCE
Regulations regarding the use of the national forestry fund provide that all forest owners may benefit from subsidies giving from 50 up to 80 percent of the cost of reforestation work and equipment, of fire-fighting equipment, and of fighting pests and insects. Grants may be made in kind, as either seeds or plants. At the request of owners, work can be carried out entirely under the direction and at the cost of the government. In this case, the cost will be repaid subsequently by the owner. The national forestry fund may also be used for financing laboratories, research stations, and scientific missions; for the establishment of nurseries and seed-drying installations; for research work abroad or in the overseas territories; and for the importation of seeds and plants.
Silviculture and Reforestation
CANADA
From the start of large-scale forest exploitation in British Columbia, clear-cutting has been general and has accounted for approximately 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres), mainly of Douglas fir, Pseudotsuga taxifolia, and hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla. As exploitation proceeded, it became evident that the economic future of the province depended in great part on the possibility of obtaining a continuous revenue from these vast, wooded areas. Climatic conditions are extremely favorable and very considerable progress is being achieved. A clear-cutting method now being used practically ensures natural regeneration. It, is a patch logging system with "patches" of 52 hectares (130 acres). These are surrounded on two sides at least by stands which will not be cut until three to eight years later, when regeneration will already be well under way. Once the forests have been cut over, the slash is burned in order to eliminate -fire hazards. This system requires a network of logging roads, and maintenance costs are higher, but the advantages out weigh the disadvantages.
The Forest Service of British Columbia has greatly expanded its nurseries. Annual output is now 20 million two-year-old plants of Douglas fir sufficient for the reforestation of 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) counting 2,000 plants per hectare (800 plants per acre). The method used in the nurseries is first based upon practical experiments to determine by weight the quantity of seeds to be used in each seedbed. The beds are then laid out in the spring, 15 m. (50 ft.) long by 1.20 m. (4 ft.) wide, and are spaced so, as to allow for the passage of tractor wheels between them. They are then enclosed by wooden frames, dug up, and leveled. Seed is broadcast and then covered by earth spread mechanically. Ten days later a kind of flame-thrower is passed over the beds to burn weeds, resulting in a 50 percent saving in weeding costs. As soon as germination starts, the beds are covered with a trellis of planking and wire which, in turn, is covered at the onset of winter with straw, in order to avoid frost damage. At the end of the first year, the main roots 'are pruned in place by a special tractor-drawn blade that does not disturb the beds. At the end of the second year, the plants are pulled by hand and packed in bundles of 100 by a special machine which covers the roots -with damp moss and envelops the young plants in waxed paper to protect them against desiccation and temperature changes. They can be kept in cellars in this way up to one month.
CEYLON
Forest research is centered mainly on the principal species of the island. Special studies are made of indigenous and exotic species such as the jak, Artocarpus integra; the nedun, Pericopsis mooniana, underplanted with mahoganies, Swietenia mahogani and Swietenia macrophylla; teak, Tectona grandis; blue gum, Eucalyptus globulus; etc., particularly on their reactions to thinning and pruning. Natural regeneration in relation to density of stands is studied separately for dry, mixed evergreen forest; coastal, wet evergreen high forest; and inland, wet evergreen high forest. Regeneration under various silvicultural methods of management is also studied. Special research is devoted to dry, scrub jungle and to methods of introducing the species beat suited to the particular soils occurring there. Experimental work is carried out on wind-belts and on various methods of combatting soil erosion.
FRENCH WEST AFRICA
The introduction of forest trees from Indo-China into French Guinea has shown very interesting results. Planted on a plateau, new stands have halted the formation of lateritic soil pan and are apparently restoring the soil to normal. Furthermore; these exotic species have succeeded in forming balanced plant associations with normal regeneration, unhampered by competition from indigenous flora. Another interesting point is that the dense canopy formed by these pines of Indo - China - Pinus khasya, Pinus merkusii and Styrax tonkinense - after rapid growth, precludes ground fires.
PORTUGAL
Cork oak forests have an importance of their own. Their management is not controlled by the Forest Service, which confines its assistance to advice and research. Practically all cork oak forests. are privately owned. Research is conducted on regeneration, usually natural, and on methods and techniques of cutting the cork bark and on its utilization. Particularly in recent years, genetics has assumed great importance and - progress is being made in its application.
UNITED KINGDOM
A card index covering the whole of Britain's woodlands is being undertaken as a two-year, job by 50 tree experts. At the completion of the task, the Forestry Commission's research headquarters will have a record of every type of tree, its condition, its age, and an estimate of its rate of growth. This information will be used in carrying out the plan of developing 2 million hectares (5 million acres) of effective woodlands in the next 50 years.
UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA
It is planned to plant 52,000 hectares (130,000 acres) during the next four years with Mexican teocote, Pinus pseudostrobus tenuifolia, and with a variety of Pinus caribaea from Honduras. These species have proved of outstanding interest because of their rapid growth; at the age of 30 their average height is 30 In. (98.5 ft.) and their diameter 45 cm. (17.8 in.)., The program is dependent on the adequate collection of seeds in Mexico and Honduras, coupled with research work as to the precise -origin of the strains introduced in South Africa. An officer of the Union of South Africa Forest Service has been sent to Central America for this purpose.
During 1946, experiments were carried out on different strains of Pinus taeda which showed that some strains grow almost twice as tall as others. Some specimens of Pinus palustris have been found to grow at a far greater rate than normal trees. A semievergreen type of Lombardy poplar has been introduced from Chile and promises to be a useful windbreak species for the winter rainfall area.
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
The reforestation program for the first half of 1947 included the planting of more than 133,000 hectares in various species. Reforestation was particularly successful in the Ukraine and in the provinces of Rostov, Tula, and Kaluga.
Forest Fires
AUSTRALIA
The 8.1 million hectares (20 million acres) of forest lands of Victoria are exposed to extremely severe fire hazards at certain periods. During five months of hot, dry summer these stands, comprising 400 different species of eucalypts, Myrtaceae, Epacrideae, and Xanthorrheae - all rich in essential oils - ,constitute a perfect powder magazine. The worst fire on record was that of January 1939, when more than 1.4 million hectares (3.5 million acres) were burned over, destroying sawmills, farms, and cattle and killing 71 people. Since then a road construction -.program, fire-fighting regulations and special fire-fighting training have been integrated into a complete defense system. A central service has been established in Melbourne which keeps in touch by wireless or telephone with hundreds of observation towers. Special teams, equipped with radios, power pumps, flame-throwers, etc., are held in readiness at strategic points. Special attention has been paid to the radio network. At present there are 18 base radio stations, together with 80 satellite stations. Liberator and Mustang aircraft are used for aerial observation and for fire fighting with water bombs. A new development is the use of a 20 percent solution of sulphate of ammonia for the fire-fighting bombs. Experiments have shown that these bombs are very effective in putting out fires in regions which would normally be wholly inaccessible.
CANADA
A network of 270 radio stations is helping to protect the forest resources of British Columbia. It is intended to expand this network further. Stations range from large operating headquarters in each forest district down to small portable sets that can be carried to the scene of fires on the remotest mountain tops. This activity reaches its peak during the fire season, whence links up all forest headquarters to the more than 100 little patrol boats plying the coastal waters, to aircraft patrolling the forests in the interior, and to foresters patrolling their beats on horseback.
Forest Enemies and Pests
AUSTRIA
Recently, infestation has been severe in coniferous forests and both fir and spruce have been heavily attacked by the grubs of Tomicus typographus and other Bostrichids. The estimated damage incurred because of 'hot, dry weather has been great. The authorities are endeavoring to prevent the spread of the pest but this effort is largely ineffective, as the work is hampered by lack of material and funds and by a shortage of labor.
CANADA
In Nova Scotia, as well as along the entire eastern seaboard, birch has become the victim of a "dieback" which is gradually wiping out the species. All efforts to stop the disease have failed. It is thought that it will become necessary to relax timber controls in order to harvest some 2.7 million m3 (600 million board feet) of birch which, otherwise, would be a total loss in five years' time.
In British Columbia, exports of western red cedar, Thuja plicata, have been mounting steadily. However, decay of the heartwood of living trees is causing justifiable anxiety. Research has shown that Poria asiatica is responsible for black rot. Traces of this kind of decay are found as high up as 80 ft. above ground. White and yellow rot are apparently caused mainly by Poria albipellucida in the coastal region and by Poria weirii in the interior. The worst damage is caused by Poria asiatica, which affects 70 percent of inland trees suffering from decay and 50 percent of those on the coast. It is responsible for an estimated average timber loss of 10 percent of the volume felled.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Hybrid pines may prove to be the answer to the pine weevil; Cylindrocopturus eatoni, which is threatening various varieties of pine. Spraying of DDT from aircraft and from the ground has shown good results, but the introduction of resistant species would be a far better solution. One hybrid variety was obtained by crossing the hybrid of Pinus jeffreyi x Pinus coulteri with Pinus jeffreyi. This hybrid was exposed to attack like the other pines but showed excellent resistance. The reason has been observed. The larvae coming out of the eggs deposited under the bark were not capable of getting as far as the cambium, because the tree reacts to the attack by rapidly producing cells which isolate the passage bored by the insect from the cambium itself, so that the larvae cannot develop and therefore die. This characteristic appears to be hereditary.
Technology
BRAZIL
The State Department of the United States has announced the establishment of a joint United States-Brazilian technical commission to draw up a program for the full development of Brazilian resources.
The six-member commission will analyze Brazil's natural and capital resources, its labor supply, fiscal and banking problems, domestic and international trade issues, and its position in the world economy. It will also consider measures to encourage the flow of private capital into Brazil and may make recommendations on measures which might speed the country's. economic development.
CANADA
In 1943 the Forest Products Laboratories, at the suggestion of the pulp and paper manufacturers, undertook research on the chemical barking of trees. After three years of, investigations several chemicals were established as satisfactory, and a procedure for applying them to standing trees was worked out. Soluble arsenic, ammonium sulphamate, sulphamic acid, and sodium chlorate have proved the most effective of those used in the experiments. These chemicals are applied to trees in the form of a paste during the "peeling" season in spring and early summer. The first step is to remove a strip of bark round the tree so as to expose a 6.4 cm. (2½ in.) band of sapwood. This can be done with a doublebladed hand saw held at chest level. Chemicals are applied to the bare sapwood and held in place by a crepe kraft paper bandage 7.6 cm. (3 in.) wide. The poison is carried up and down the tree between the bark and the wood, quickly killing the tree and leaving it in such condition that the bark may be readily removed by a quick twist of the woodsman's de-barking tool. Of all the chemicals tested arsenic proved to be the speediest, and most effective in removing bark and in providing protection from blue-stain and bark insects which frequently attack dead trees.
CHINA
The Kaiting Forest Products Laboratory has completed much original research work on Chinese timbers during the past few years. The Laboratory, which is a unit of the National Bureau of Industrial Research, conducted systematic investigations on the most important Chinese timbers with respect to their classification; supplies; and structural, physico-mechanical, seasoning, and preserving, as well woodworking, properties. In all, over 20,000 physical determinations of moisture content, specific gravity, and shrinkage of wood, and 2,000 mechanical tests have been made. Although equipment and heavy machinery is still wanting, a number of preliminary results have been obtained and over 20 technical papers have been written. China possesses more than 2,000 species of trees, but information about the dominant timber-producing trees is very incomplete. To meet such deficiencies -several expeditions to exploitable forest areas have been organized by the Kaiting Laboratory.
SWEDEN
The Swedish Forest Products Research Laboratory, Stockholm, with a staff of 95 qualified research workers and assistants, is endeavoring to find new ways of using Swedish wood and of improving forest products. The institute comprises three departments, one for paper, one for wood chemistry, and one for wood technology. The Department for Wood Chemistry is engaged, inter alia, in the important task of solving the riddle of lignin. About 30 percent of wood consists of this substance, but as its chemical nature has not been fully known the wood-chemical industry has not been able to utilize it practically. So far it has been used mainly as a poor fuel. However, promising results have now been attained. By exposing the wood cells to ultraviolet rays, the Swedish research workers have localized the situation of the lignin in the cells, and they have partially succeeded in revealing its chemical structure.
UNITED KINGDOM
The study of plywood and of the gluing of wood at the Forest Products Research Laboratory, Princes Risborough, England is carried on in the Composite Wood Section which came into active being in 1939. Its plant allows a thorough study of each of the processes -involved in plywood manufacture and of the machinery itself, and it is hoped that it will enable as wide as possible a range of timbers to be assessed for their qualities in veneer and plywood manufacture. The study of the machinery, however, although important, forms only a part of the work, and some 50 percent of the Section's time is devoted to the study of glues, their methods of use and behavior in service and testing. Several thousands of plywood panels have been made at the Laboratory, using a wide range of glue types, and they are being exposed to the weather over a period of 10 years. Glues are under test also in other types of construction such as in ply-clad frames for housing purposes and in laminated beams. Extremely severe conditions will be provided for tropical houses. The technique of building up glued structures other than simple Plywood is under continuous study. This includes the manufacture of curved and molded plywood by the rubber bag and other methods, the design of jigs and presses, and the investigation of methods of applying heat.
Industrial Equipment
NORWAY
The purchase from Canada of motor-driven chain saws for use in Norway's forests is part of a program to modernize logging equipment and methods in order to increase timber output for reconstruction.
PANAMA
Mahogany, Swietenia spp., and Santa Maria, Calophyllum spp., lumber are to be the chief species processed by a new mill with a capacity of 28,320 m3 annually. Small quantities of cedar, Cedrela spp., amarillo, Centrolobium patiuense, and other local woods will be milled. The timber will be cut in the province of Darien and will be transported for sawing to the mill Which is situated near Panama City. Extensive study and tests of Santa Maria wood were made in 1943 and since then extraction of the wood-hag been increasing steadily. It has proved to be very satisfactory as decking on flat cars and also has been found suitable for keel blocks, guard rails for piers, and flooring in houses.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A portable wood chipper has been developed in order to recover almost everything but the stumps after felling operations. The unit consists of a 1.2 in. (47 in.) chipper mounted on a portable truck and driven by a 100 h.p. Diesel engine. After logging operations, the machine is taken into the stand and the tops and slash are cut into convenient lengths and thrown into the chipper, thus saving what would normally be wasted.
A device in the form of tree shears to cut down trees up to pulpwood size more easily and quickly than with a portable power saw has been developed in Texas. The shears are operated in conjunction with a tractor and are said to be capable of cutting as fast as the tractor can' move from tree to tree.
Numerous technical developments brought about by the war are being put to good use in many spheres of industry. Army mine detectors are being successfully used for locating metal in logs. The mine detector consists of a search head or scanning disc connected through a handle and control box with an amplifier and a resonator or miniature loudspeaker. When the search head passes over metal within a given distance it gives a signal on the resonator, earphones, or dial, according to the equipment used. Veneer mills troubled by embedded metal in their bolts or logs as -well as sawmills recutting used timber containing nails and other metal objects could obviate much trouble by the use of metal detectors. The short tabulation (following) gives the results achieved with a mine detector during one month by a mill sawing logs cut from trees which had been worked over for naval production.
A special X-ray machine with a fluoroscope has been built for a company that was confronted with the necessity of salvaging lumber from an old bridge trestle. The operator looks through the fluoroscope of this experimental machine and marks the location of pieces of metal with a spray of paint. The marked sections are then cut out before running through the resaw.
|
During One Month |
Before |
After |
||
|
Times |
Work Lost |
Times |
Work Lost |
|
|
Struck metal |
32 |
192 min. |
4 |
24 min. |
|
Chopped out nails on nails |
6 |
33 min. |
3 |
14 min. |
|
Jump-butted logs on carriage |
2 |
10 min. |
0 |
0 min. |
|
|
40 |
235 min. |
7 |
38 min. |
Preservation and Drying
AUSTRALIA
The Queensland Forest Service has published results of a study to determine the seasonal variation in the moisture content of several Queensland woods protected from rain but exposed to outdoor atmospheric conditions in Brisbane and the principal sawmilling centres in North Queensland (about 17° S. latitude). It was found that the average equilibrium moisture content was higher in North Queensland than in Brisbane, varying with the species and locality. At Yungaburra, where the average was 20 percent for hoop pine, Araucaria cunninghamii 21 percent for satinay, Syncarpia hillii and 19.5 percent for silky oak, Cardwellia sublimis, the moisture content was about 5 to 7 percent greater than in Brisbane.
The New South Wales Forestry Commission recently purchased a pressure creosoting plant which was utilized during the war for creosote treatment of timber for munitions and government purposes. The plant will be operated by the Commission's Division of Wood Technology and, in addition to creosoting timber on behalf of government authorities, will be used to give working demonstrations in the preservation of timber. These demonstrations will constitute part of the Division's extension services in advocating the preservation of wood for various fields of use. Until this plant was installed during the war no equipment was available in Australia for pressure impregnation of commercial quantities of timber. For purposes where high resistance to decay and to insect and marine borer attack was required Australian hardwoods of natural high durability were generally chosen.
Many broad-leaved trees of large size and good form, which were formerly left in the forest when well known timbers such as mahogany and cedar were extracted for marketing, have wide bands of sapwood, often wider than 16 cm. (6 in.). which would be severely damaged or even completely destroyed by powder-post Lyctus borers after conversion. Successful marketing of such woods, chiefly of tropical and subtropical occurrence, can be achieved only if an effective preservative treatment is given to the sapwood. Several sawmills have installed, or are planning to install, treating equipment for immunizing the sapwood of such timbers against Lyctus damage. In New South Wales the sale of furniture made from such woods which have not been treated is prohibited. Methods dependent on open tank treatments and diffusion of hot boric acid solutions into the wood are being employed., During the past decade a number of plywood factories have been using sapwood veneer of these timbers impregnated with boric acid to make them immune to Lyctus damage. This successful treatment of sapwood veneers has been followed by investigations to develop the methods of treatment of sawn timber which are now being used.
CHILE
Creosoting wood is to be started by a factory being built with an annual capacity of 825,000 m3. The principal products are sleepers for railways. There will also be some production of telephone poles and timber for the building industry.
NIGERIA
One of the main problems to be overcome in the use of wood sleepers for railway construction in the tropics is prevention of the ravages of' termites. During the war the difficulties of obtaining metal sleepers made it necessary to use wooden sleepers to a greater extent. Under tropical conditions in Nigeria, wooden sleepers usually have only about 7 years' service life as against the 30-35 years of steel sleepers. It was decided, therefore, to endeavor to make wooden sleepers impervious to termites and dry rot. After three years experimentation in laboratories in England, a plant was erected on the spot in order to treat hardwoods for use on the Nigerian railways. Ready-cut lengths of timber are brought to the plant where they are sorted out according to species. After passing through the adzing and boring equipment, which is callable of handling 900 sleepers a day, the timber is impregnated under pressure with hot creosote. Over 250 sleepers at a time can be wheeled into long cylinders from which the air is sucked out while at the same time the creosote is forced in at a temperature over boiling point. The normal output is 750 treated sleepers a day. The sleepers will have to be used for 10 years before their resistance can be fully assessed but it appears already that a definite increase in the life of wooden sleepers in the tropics has been made possible.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
In 1946 the inspection of a test track in Montana brought. to a close a study that was started in 1910. The test was originally designed to determine the desirability of Inland Empire western hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla, as a tie (railway sleeper) species. The fact that some other species were also taken into consideration only added to the many benefits the study has provided. A total of 1,800 ties consisting of both sawn and hewn varieties were included in the test. Of this total, 1,072 were-western, hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla, 436 western larch, Larix occidentalis 166 Inland Empire Douglas fir, Pseudotsuga taxifolia, 102 true fir, Abies, 18 Engelmann spruce, Picea engelmanii. The ties were purchased in 1909 and were treated by the Lowry pressure process. An 80-20 solution of coal-tar creosote and refined coal-tar oil was used as a preservative, and an average retention of 108 kg. per m3 (6.75 lb. per cu. ft.) was obtained. Ties were not incised or bored. Final computation of the results was made in 1946; it showed western hemlock to have an average life of 30.6 years; western larch, 33.4 years; true fir, 29.7 years; Douglas fir, 35.4 years; and Engelmann spruce, 25.3 years.
Plywood and Gluing
INDIA
The plywood industry consists of about 80 factories with a capacity of approximately 6.5 million m2 (70 million sq. ft.) and was started after the First World War. The Second World War gave great impetus to the industry, particularly to the manufacture of tea chests. For the 3 years from 1947 to 1950, it has been estimated that 14 Million m2 (1,50 Million sq. ft.) of plywood will be required to meet India's yearly demands. About Vermillion m2 (100 million sq. ft.) of plywood would be used for tea chests and 4,6 million m2 (50 million sq. ft.) for domestic commercial use. It is anticipated that the logs required can be supplied from the forests of India but that sufficient casein is produced annually for only 3.7 to 4.6 million m2 (40 to 50 million sq. ft.) of plywood.
UNITED KINGDOM
A new demountable barrel has been devised to save space when empty beer barrels are being transported back to the brewery. The barrel is assembled by fitting 10 laminated wood staves, lined with oak, into grooves of the barrel ends, then slipping on hoops and hammering them into position. The staves, it is claimed, keep their shape without expansion or shrinkage. Reassembling the barrel is said to be possible in about one minute.
Pulp and Paper Industries
FINLAND
A new method has been developed for the quantitative and qualitative determination of sugars in sulphite waste liquor, based on the disassociation of sugar bisulphites into sugar and bisulphite. Results show that: (1) The hemicellulose of sprucewood mostly consists of mannans. Mannose is the altogether predominant hexose in the sulphite waste liquor. (2) Sprucewood also contains galactans. Galactose is found in strong pulp waste liquors, but is destroyed in rayon pulp waste liquor during the cooking process. (3) Sprucewood does not contain any readily hydrolized glucosan. The presence of glucose in strong pulp waste liquor cannot be proved, nor is there reason to assume that the wood should contain some slowly hydrolized polysaccharides of glucose fundamentally different from cellulose. The glucose in rayon pulp waste liquors may be well assumed to originate from hydrolysis of the cellulose. The reaction during the cooking of rayon is sufficiently acid to justify the assumption.
PHILIPPINES
A paper mill with a, capacity of 30 tons per day is to help the industrialization program. Six or seven such mills have been recommended for construction in the next few years to provide eventual self-sufficiency in paper production both for newsprint and industrial uses such as paper bags. The first mill is to be erected in conjunction with a sugar-refining plant in order to make use of the digester plant for converting raw materials to pulp. Local fibers adapted to papermaking include the waste of abaca (Manila hemp), maguey, cogon grass, rice husks, bamboo, ramie, and bagasse. Paper imports in 1940 were 62,000 tons for all purposes.
SWEDEN
Fuel corresponding to 300 kg. of anthracite per ton of manufactured sulphite pulp is to be extracted from sulphite liquor by a process developed at the Institute for Wood Research. This would be enough to supply sulphite factories with 50 percent of their fuel requirements.
The Association of Waste Paper Dealers estimated that 100,000 tons of waste paper can be collected every year in Sweden alone. This would furnish raw material for approximately 75,000 tons of paper. It is thought that in summer the amount of waste paper collected Will be higher since old newspapers will not be used so much for fire-lighting purposes. From only one large factory near Stockholm 8,000 kg. of office waste paper, were collected in one week.
UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA
A new industry in Natal will turn home-grown timber into hard and soft boards at a rate of million m2 (60 million sq. ft.) a year. The plant, the first in South Africa, is to embody the newest ideas and will be able to turn out a full range of products from standard insulating and ceiling boards to a very dense hardboard which will be smooth on both sides.
UNITED KINGDOM
Straw had to be used as raw material for papermaking when the mills were cut off from their traditional sources of sup ply during the war. Now that normal sup plies are becoming available again, less straw is being used. It may, therefore, be of interest to quote figures showing the possibilities developed during the wartime shortage. The straw consumption by the paper and board industry was as follows:
1941, 127,000 tons; 1942, 249,000 tons;
1943, 303,0,00 tons; 1944, 328,000 tons;
1945, 346,000 tons; 1946, 295,000 tons.
The view has been adopted among paper men that straw may now be regarded as a raw material in its own right and Dot merely as a substitute for other fibers. A powerful argument in support of this claim is that straw is a home-produced raw material and its use does not entail any expenditure of foreign currency.
Another point in favor of straw is that its transport-does not make any demands on merchant shipping. During and since the war considerable advances have been made in the processing of straw in paper and board mills. Yields of 45-50 percent bleached pulp from straw have already been claimed and research directed to wards the attainment of better results continues.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
De-inked waste newsprint is to be used to make new newsprint. The process to be used is described as a cold water process with low conversion cost and no loss of fiber. The process is said to be both chemical and mechanical, requiring about 30 minutes from waste paper to de-inked pulp.
Container board manufacture is to be serviced by a new sulphate plant for the production of unbleached pulp. It will operate in conjunction with a complete lumber plant with kiln-drying and planing facilities. The sulphate mill unit is another step in a long-range planned program of integrated wood utilization being worked out in the Northwest. Thorough consideration is being given to several processes and products that would use the waste incidental to lumbering and sawmill operations. The unbleached sulphate container board mill is considered one of the most suitable means for this integrated wood utilization since it will operate entirely on slabs, edgings, and trimmings from the sawmills and undersized trees, and chunks and tops from logging operations.
Increased demands and higher market prices for turpentine and its component fractions have created an additional source of revenue for manufacturers of pulp. Within the past year, four pulp' and paper manufacturers have installed turpentine recovery equipment and a high return has been realized upon the investment. Crude turpentine, or pinene, can be recovered from certain coniferous pulpwoods, particularly southern yellow pine, Pinus echinata, and long leaf pine, Pinus palustris, during the cooking period of a wood charge in digesters. The extent of recovery varies from 1½ to 4 gallons per ton (6-17 liters per metric ton) of pulp produced, depending on the type of wood, its age, and location. In addition to obtaining turpentine, the modern equipment recovers heat in the form of hot water for washing pulp and other mill use.
Construction
UNITED KINGDOM
The two last timber viaducts on the Great Western Railway are now being dismantled. They were constructed around 1855. For some time past a branch line, of which the viaducts form a part, had been idle, and the viaducts are being removed for the sake of the timber amounting to 5,200 m3 (25,000 cubic feet). Part of this is to be used as new flooring in the carriage and wagon repair shops and -the remainder is to be used as shuttering, piling for footbridges, etc.
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
A building material is reported to have been taken into use as a satisfactory substitute for lumber, brick, slate, and corrugated metal roofing. It is manufactured by a very simple process with inexpensive machinery. The fibrous substance, made of reeds, straw, textile, paper, and other wastes, is boiled in alkaline (lime) solution, then soaked in water and ground up. During the grinding process, the fiber is treated with a resinous substance. The resulting liquid pulp, which at this point contains 60-70 percent moisture, is poured under pressure into wire net molds in vacuo and put into driers. The material is said to be both beat- and water-resistant. Its insulating properties are such that it is to be used extensively for dwelling and other construction in the Arctic. A roof made of this material should not weigh more than one-tenth of the weight of a tile roof and one-half of the weight of a sheet iron roof. It does not require any beams and rafters and is easily erected. It is said to be leak proof and to withstand sudden changes in temperature. The material is claimed to be neither brittle nor fragile.
Waste Utilization
SWEDEN
A wax-like material from the bark of pine trees promises to become one of the most important substances in plastics manufacture. The bark product is called phlobaphene and constitutes a new and cheap softening agent or plasticizer. Manufacture of phlobaphene from the bark which cannot now be used by the lumber and pulpwood industries would not only solve a major waste problem but would also give the plastics industry a new material. The plasticizers from bark are suitable for replacing plasticizers from castor oil and alkyd products, as well as the phthalic acid derivatives made from coal. Up to 30 percent of synthetic resins produced consist of the plasticizers. Thus' the number of uses for bark materials will be large.
UNITED STATES or AMERICA
Ill the Douglas fir region of the states of Oregon and Washington the commercial production of five bark products has been started. This operation, tapping a new source of raw materials, is a significant step towards a complete utilization of forest resources and is also of considerable importance in achieving sustained-yield management and stable employment of forest workers. Bark, long considered almost worthless in milling, represents approximately 12 percent of a sawlog. Under the new process, bark now yields these main components: cork flakes, short fibers, tissue powder, a cork-fiber combination, and a cork-fiber-powder combination. The materials have been proved valuable for a variety of uses especially in the plywood, glue, plastics, insecticide, and soil-conditioning fields. Only the thick bark of the Douglas fir is used for the time being. The bark of all Pacific Coast conifers is usable, but as they differ chemically and physically, they would have to be processed separately. The total output of bark products is to be 35 tons daily.
Economics and Statistics
BRITISH HONDURAS
Mahogany logs and lumber are the main items in the economy of British Honduras. Exports in 1946 were 19,000 m3 as against 26,000 m3 in 1938. Contract prices may have to be increased to meet present costs of production. There is a continuing demand for mahogany as well as for secondary woods. Difficulty is being experienced -in finding substantial supplies of cedar required by Jamaica for cigar boxes.
CANADA
The export of spruce, Picea spp., balsam fir, Abies balsamea, and jackpine, Pinus banksiana, in unprocessed form or as pulpwood logs from the Crown lands of Ontario to the United States is to be reduced until it is completely eliminated in the next tell years. The scheme would work as follows: (1) those who have built pulp mills in Ontario and now have permission to export pulpwood will have their present quota reduced by one-tenth each year; (2) those given export rights as a consideration for assisting in the erection of new pulp mills by vacating areas previously allotted them will have their quota reduced progressively by 1/4 of their last annual exports; (3) those who have been working on short-term arrangements without any consideration such as mentioned above will have their quota reduced progressively each year by 1/3 of their last annual exports.
NEWFOUNDLAND
The Newfoundland pulp and paper industry is rapidly assuming a dominant role in the country's economy. In 1938 two paper mills gave employment to 7,000 men. With the expansion now taking place it is estimated that at the end of 1948 the industry will give permanent or semipermanent employment to 15,000. The output of the country's largest mill has been contracted for on a long-term basis and the entire production over the next ten years has been sold. Returns in the form of salaries and wages to the permanent employees of the paper companies are, on the whole, higher than those received by fishermen, and the present growth in pulp and paper production should assist materially in maintaining or raising the general standard of living.
UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA
Exports of wattle extract amounted to approximately 65,600 tons in 1946 a 8 compared to 66,300 tons in 1945. The United Kingdom took 45 percent and large shipments also were made to the United States of America and Australia. Smaller shipments went to India, New Zealand, Canada, the Middle East, and China. Buying by users oil tie continent of Europe was resumed. Wattle bark exports were approximately 52,600 tons in 1946 against 43,000 tons in 1945. India took 40 percent and the United States nearly 30 percent. Australia and the continent of Europe purchased moderate quantities. Exports to China were resumed on a small scale.
The Forest Products Research Society, which was inaugurated early in 1947, held its first National Meeting in Chicago, U.S.A., on 31 October and 1 November. Membership of the - Society, which aims at furthering the extension of research and its application to various phases of forest products industries, is now more than 1,000. Members are chiefly from the United States of America and Canada, but there are also members from Australia, Belgium, China, England France, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippine Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Union of South Africa, and the United Kingdom.
Professor Valno Auer of Finland has been named honorary Director of Forestry in Argentina. He is currently studying the classification of soils and the evolution and formation of peat moss in Patagonia and its possibilities as fuel. Research work oil several other promising aspects of Patagonian economy are being carried out under the Ministry of Agriculture.
Mr. J. M. Cockburn has been appointed Chairman of the Timber Development Association in the United Kingdom. He has been an active member of the TDA Council since its reorganization several years ago.
In Burma, U Hman has been appointed Chief Conservator of Forests.
Mr. D. T. Griffiths, formerly Chief Conservator of Forests, Burma, hag been appointed Chief Forest Advisor to the Union of Burma.
Dr. B. A. Keen has been appointed to the post of Director of the new British East African Agricultural and Forestry Organization.
The post of Inspector-General of Forests to the Government of India, filled by Mr. A. P. F. Hamilton, is being retained and he will continue to be head of the Indian Forest Service and Advisor to the Government of India on forestry and connected matters.
In Pakistan, Mr. J. Petty has been appointed Inspector-General. of Forests.
Mr. D. Roy Cameron, former Dominion Forester of Canada, has assumed charge of the European working group at Geneva, Switzerland. Mr. Cameron has been closely associated with the FAO forestry program since its inception. He was a member of the Interim Commission oil Food and Agriculture, the temporary organization which drew up the FAO Charter adopted at Quebec in 1945. He attended the Quebec and Copenhagen Conferences and served as a member of the Food and Agriculture Organization's Standing Advisory Committee from its formation to the present time.
Mr. P. Sartorius, Switzerland, a former federal inspector of forests, has also joined the European group. Mr. Sartorius is well known for his work in organizing Switzerland's war-time economy in the timber field.
Mr. Pierre Terver has been appointed a chief of section in the Forest Products Branch of FAO's Division of Forestry and Forest Products. He was formerly Chief of the Forest Service of the Ministry of French Overseas Territories. His academic career began at the Institut National Agronomique in Paris in 1929, and was continued at the Ecole Nationale des Eaux et Forêts of Nancy in 1931. He has held a professorship of tropical -forest economy, trade, and utilization of tropical woods at the Advanced School of Tropical Agronomy, and has organized training courses for officers and inspectors of the Colonial Forest Service as well as being a professor at the School of Public Works. He has also acted as Secretary-General of the, Conseil Superieur de la Protection de la Nature dans les Territoires d'Outre-Mer and of the Conseil Superieur de la Chasse dans les Territoires d'Outre-Mer.
Mr. Jorge Succar, Peru, has left the Forest Products Branch of FAO's Division of Forestry and Forest Products and is at present serving as secretary to the FAO Mission to Venezuela.
THE Nations accepting this Constitution, being determined to promote the common welfare by furthering separate and collective action on their part for the purposes of
raising levels of nutrition and standards of living of the peoples under their respective jurisdictions,
securing improvements in the efficiency of the production and distribution of all food and agricultural products,bettering the condition of rural populations,
and thus contributing toward an expanding world economy,
hereby establish the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations... through which the Members will report to one another on the measures taken and the progress achieved in the fields of action set forth above.
- Preamble to the Constitution of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FAO Member Nations
AUSTRALIA
AUSTRIA
BELGIUM
BOLIVIA
BRAZIL
BURMA
CANADA
CEYLON
CHILE
CHINA
COLOMBIA
COSTA RICA
CUBA
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
DENMARK
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
ECUADOR
EGYPT
ETHIOPIA
EL SALVADOR
FINLAND
FRANCE
GREECE
GUATEMALA
HAITI
HONDURAS
HUNGARY
ICELAND
INDIA
IRAQ
IRELAND
ITALY
LEBANON
LIBERIA
LUXEMBOURG
MEXICO
NETHERLANDS
NEW ZEALAND
NICARAGUA
NORWAY
PAKISTAN
PANAMA
PARAGUAY
PERU
PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC
POLAND
PORTUGAL
SIAM
SWITZERLAND
SYRIA
TURKEY
UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA
UNITED KINGDOM
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
URUGUAY
VENEZUELA
YUGOSLAVIA
