The Opelousas courier., 1904-06-04
WOOD PULP FROM RA
rt May Prove a Satisfactory aBhA6F&Ss
For Spruce.

FOr spruce
Maine timber land owners and pulp
manufacturers are greatly interested n
the forthcoming report Of Raphael t..
Zou. of the United States Bureau of
Forestry. on the balsam fir. of which
tree, says a Bangor (Me.) special in the
| New York Tribune, he has been max
s1g q commercial study. with the OBJ
| ject of ascertaining definitely its avail
| ability as a substitute for spruce in the
manufacture of pulp. The rapid dis
appearance of spruce, the best tree i'll
| the North Woods for the manufacture
Of pulp, has forced the pulp makers to
usg more and more balsam, and has
brtSlght that tree, once aespised and
neglected, into a very important place.
FoGA,years ago, practically no balsam
was hsed by pulp manufacturers, many
Of wpeq hbw a+te using from twenty
five tHoNy per Gent. 81 it. The amount
Of BALM }Aused depends entirely u,on
the spEte#Apply neal where the diff
terent MaRASare located. The smaller
the amovlAA Of spruce available the
greater s4eesmount of balsam used.
Pulp makfsSSlrers say that balsam
is the best T. Siftute for spruce that
can be foune " q the North Woods.
Other trees mfKESyA nerve we'll for paper
pulp. but they RSsAot natives of the
country where tRF}nills are located.
Pulp mills are eno2Susly heavy and
expensive, and the hood must be
brought to them-they c>Rnot be taken
to the wood. The pulp MN, therefore
in his choice of a substitu a for his d.
minishing supply of spruceS;sSss confined
to the few species that grow in asso'
citation with spruce, and of these spe
cies balsam is at once the most abun'
dant and the most promising.
The present method of making pull
out of balsam is to grind it or treat II
with chemicals along with spruce, but
the results are not satisfactory. Bal
sam, mixed with spruce, produces al
inferior grade Of pulp. Mr.. Zon sug
gests that it would be much better il
balsam were handled independently o.
spruce. The balsam fibres are no
nearly SO tough and strong as are those
Of spruce, and the pressure of the
grinders, which are adjusted for spruce
6bres, is too powerful for the tibres o:
balsam, and. they are torn and weak
ened. For the same reason, the chem
icals used in the treatment OF tn
spruce fbres weaken and dissolve tn
fbres of balsam when used in the sam
strength. Examples of what can b.
done with balsam in the manufactur'
Of paper are found in France, wher'
the tree is made to produce good bool
papers. There, not only the mai
trunk, but even the top of the tree
used.
The silvicultural features Of the bal
sam are related by Mr.. Zon, who ha
studied the tree carefully Throughout
its range, but particularly in Maine an
the Adtfondacks. Spruce has been Gu
for many years, while bRlsam ha
scarcely been cut at all; hence, balsaI
has taken the place of and is crowdin
out the spruce. This change in specie
in the North Woods is FASTENED by n
great superiority Of balsam as a see
tree. for balsam bears seeds ever
year, while the spruce seeds only ono
in seven years. These conditions max
it apparent how very desirable it
that the pulp manufacturers shout
use balsam wherever possible, for i
doing so they not only lessen the drai
on the limited amount of spruce lef
Y but they give the tree a chance to gro
and reproduce itself. The result {
Mr.. IONS work will appear in a Go
eminent bulletin.