THE FORESTER'S COMPANION. N.D.G.
James. pp. 312, illustr., tables.
Basil Blackwell, Oxford 1955.
FORESTRY HANDBOOK. R.D. Forbes,
Editor for Society of American
Forests. pp. 1,212, 744 illustr.
Ronald Press Co. New York.
1965. $15.00
A major portion of the information in these two handbooks will find general application, and those parts which are for particular conditions offer valuable guides to those who may wish to prepare similar information for other regions and countries. The smaller, by James, which is intended for field use, provides a concise ready source of information on British forestry for "all who work in the woods, be they landowners, land agents, foresters, timber merchants, woodmen, and students." The larger, the result of eight years of work by 145 contributing and consulting editors under the auspices of the Society of American Foresters, is a table-reference work which provides a quick summary of a vast range of information needed by "everyone with a professional or commercial interest in forest lands and forest crops of North America."
WATER. 1965 Yearbook of Agriculture. Edited by Alfred Stefferud. pp. 751. illustr. Specific and general bibliographies included. United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Government Printing Office. $2.00
This volume is another in the excellent series of yearbooks of the United States Department of Agriculture. It treats of water in all its ramifications, from man's basic needs for water through its sources, uses, management and its many interrelationships with man's activities. The book is divided into 13 sections or chapters, each dealing with a different aspect and each made up of concise articles written by specialists in particular fields of research or management. Most of the authors are scientists employed in the Department of Agriculture.
The book is written for readers in the United States, but many parts of it could be read with profit in any part of the world. Man's needs and the needs of his livestock for water are universal. Everywhere in the world, people experience too much water when they do not want it and not enough water when they want it. The foreword, by the United States Secretary of Agriculture, has universal application.
"We have to learn more about the control of floods at their sources as well as in the big rivers... We have to look at the fields, the forests and the hills that make up our water. sheds, for the way we manage them affects the abundance and purity of the water farmers and city people need in increasing quantities. We need to explore all the possibilities that the sciences now offer... We need an increased awareness of the oneness of our physical resources."
TECHNOLOGIE DES HOLZES UND DER HOLZWERKSTOFFE (Technology of Wood and Derived Materials). Prof. Dr. Ing. Franz Kollmann. Volume II1,183 pp., 1,194 figs., 6 tables. Springer Verlag, Berlin-Gottingen - Heidelberg, and J.F. Bergmann, München. Second edition, 1955. DM. 136.00
1 A review of Volume I appeared in Unasylva, Vol. V, No. 4, p. 190.
Almost four years have passed since the first volume of the revised edition of Kollmann's monumental work was released. There were various reasons for this long delay - the vast amount of information to be included; the continuous and rapid progress in all technical fields of wood utilization, many of which required adequate time for confirmation of their practical value, and finally the tendency of industry to keep secret new and promising processes or inventions. The delay in the publication of the second volume has therefore been of some advantage.
Whereas Volume I deals with the basic sciences such as anatomy, pathology, chemistry, physics, elasticity and strength of wood and derived products, Volume II is concerned with the various fields of industrial utilization of wood and wood-based materials. They are grouped in five main chapters.
The chapter on the protection and surface treatment of wood first describes the various physical, biological, technical, physiological and chemical methods of wood protection and preservation. It then discusses the different means and materials used for protection of wood from biotic enemies and abiotic influences such as fire, moisture, etc. A great number of different methods for the treatment of wooden surfaces are described briefly.
The chapter on the drying and steaming of wood includes all known methods and techniques from simple air drying in the open, and kiln drying, to the latest developments in the utilization of high-frequency and infra-red drying. Equally detailed is the chapter on the finishing of wood and manufacture of wood-based materials (woods improved through compressing, soaking, coloring, etc.; veneers, plywoods, chip- and fibreboards, etc.), taking into account the recent rapid technical development in these fields. Substantial information is provided in a last chapter on wood joints, such as nailing, screwing, bolting, pegging and other modern joints, and on glues. The author here discusses in detail the theoretical foundation and relationships of the various methods.
The text is complemented by a very extensive bibliography, a list of wood species in relation to their various uses, a subject index, and a number of tables on the permeability of various timbers, on the efficiency of various fungicides and insecticides and the properties of various glues.
This is a standard reference book in which a very able author has brought together the latest information and experience available at all the major wood research institutes of the world.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO PLANT ANATOMY. I.W. Bailey. pp. 262. illus. Vol. 15, Chronica Botanical Waltham, Mass., U.S.A. Stechert-Hafner Inc., New York City. 1954. $7.50.
This selection of the more important contributions of Dr. Bailey, forester-botanist, covers a wide range of botanical subjects over the period 1909-1963. There are eight parts dealing with such phases of forestry and botany as cytology - principally the cambium, biochemistry and biophysics of the cell wall, phylogeny or development of conductive tissue, taxonomy, entomology, paleobotany, and of special interest to foresters, wood technology with reference to penetrations of preservative materials, and finally excerpts from the author's paper, the Role of Research in the Development of Forestry in North America. All parts, with the exception of the last, are clearly summarized to show the inter-relation between plant anatomy and other fields of science. The references, the illustrations, and the index make this a good usable publication for those who try to see, not the separate compartments of botany or forestry, but the close interdependence of the various phases of these fields. Dr. Bailey stimulates thinking about those facts which are basic to many practical forestry problems.
DAS HOLZ ALS ROUSTOFF (Wood as a Raw Material). R. Trendelenburg and H. Mayer-Wegelin. 541 pp., 175 illustr., 66 tables. Carl Hanser Verlag, München (Second revised edition) 1955. DM. 38.50
Far from being just another source of information on mechanical or chemical properties of wood, this comprehensive handbook has the special merit of presenting the causal connections between growth and development of forests and individual trees in the course of their life. The various qualities of wood for many different uses can only be fully understood and appreciated on the basis of a thorough knowledge of the physiological and mechanical functions in the living tree, and of the multitude of variations and alterations wood undergoes during the tree's lifetime.
In this way the book undertakes to establish the bridge between silviculture and biology on the one hand and the techniques of utilization on the other. It is thus of equal interest to the forester, who must know what the technician expects from the raw wood material, and to the technician, whom it tells what the forests and trees are able to produce.
The first chapter deals with wood production in the forests, summarizing the available forest resources of the world, the principles of forest management and of wood harvesting, and providing some information on the actual world wood production. Then follows a chapter on wood uses, describing present consumption and its trends for the future, the specific requirements of the various consumer groups, and the problems of supply and marketing.
This leads to chapters on the various properties of wood resulting from its cellular texture, morphology and components, porous nature, and density in the living tree.
The last two chapters are devoted to a thorough discussion of the annual rings, their growth, properties and consequences for wood utilization, and of the structure of the stem and its various parts from the point of view of their functions in the living tree as well as for their technical properties and uses. An extensive bibliography and a subject index close the volume.
This short summary of contents can by no means do justice to the value of this book. It will enable both the forester and utilization man to understand why wood is what it is, what would be the possibilities of influencing its properties, and how it should be utilized to obtain maximum service.
