treatment. We could save about one and one-half
billion board feet of valuable hardwood lumber annually if all
the 85,000,000 untreated railroad ties now in use could be
protected in this manner. If all wood exposed to decay were
similarly treated, we could save about six billion board feet of
timber each year.

About one-sixth of all the lumber that is cut in the United
States is used in making crates and packing boxes. The majority
of these boxes are not satisfactory. Either they are not strong
enough or else they are not the right size or shape. During a
recent year, the railroads paid out more than $100,000,000 to
shippers who lost goods in transit due to boxes and crates that
were damaged in shipment.

In order to find out what woods are best to use in crates and
boxes and what sizes and shapes will withstand rough handling,
the Laboratory experts developed a novel drum that tosses the
boxes to and fro and gives them the same kind of rough handling
they get on the railroad. This testing machine has demonstrated
that the proper method of nailing the box is of great importance.
Tests have shown that the weakest wood properly nailed into a
container is more serviceable than the strongest wood poorly
nailed. Better designs of boxes have been worked out which save
lumber and space and produce stronger containers.

Educating the lumbering industry away from extravagant practices
is one of the important activities of the modern forestry
experts. Operators who manufacture handles, spokes, chairs,
furniture, toys and agricultural implements could, by scientific
methods of wood using, produce just as good products by using 10
to 50 per cent. of the tree as they do by using all of it. The
furniture industry not infrequently wastes from 40 to 60 per
cent. of the raw lumber which it buys. Much of this waste could
be saved by cutting the small sizes of material directly from the
log instead of from lumber. It is also essential that sizes of
material used in these industries be standardized.

The Forest Products Laboratory has perfected practical methods of
building up material from small pieces which otherwise would be
thrown away. For example, shoe lasts, hat blocks, bowling pins,
base-ball bats, wagon bolsters and wheel hubs are now made of
short pieces of material which are fastened together with
waterproof glue. If this method of built-up construction can be
made popular in all sections of the country, very great savi