YOUR EDITORS have asked me to write an article on the promotion and sale of lumber. I have always felt that successful experience is a better guide than theory in charting a course of action. Therefore I am going to outline in detail just how I go about promoting and selling lumber.

MODERN research workers make extensive use of machine methods for processing the statistical phases of their projects. In many cases, projects could not even be attempted without the aid of computing and other data processing facilities. The first step in doing the statistical phases by machine is to punch the data into IBM cards. These are then fed into the computer or other equipment for whatever processing is required. Most commonly, data sheets prepared by the people doing the actual research are given to professional key punch operators, who read the data and punch it into the appropriate sections of data cards. The cards and data sheets are then sent to another operator who verifies the correctness of the punching on a machine called a verifier. This method eliminates operator error and has proven very satisfactory in the vast majority of applications.

LEADERSHIP in forestry has passed through several eras, usually dominated by an individual or group of men who have been successful in having their ideas and objectives recognized. There are both positive and negative leaders - those who foster and promote and those who oppose. It is from the crucible of these competing elements that history selects those whose successes and failures are to be recorded. The different eras of leadership do not stand out in sharp relief. As each period has advanced there is a blending and mixing with the succeeding leaders who have, in turn, picked up the reins of progress.

THE STORY of fire retardant lumber is as old as man. Since the day that he learned to make a fire, man has endeavored to learn how to control it. Wood is one of man's oldest building materials. History has recorded the uses that he has made of wood, as well as the conflagrations that have caused him to investigate the possibilities of reducing the combustibility of wood.

Published Annually by the Ames Forestry Club.