The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1908-06-11
Wood Pub Manufactured In 1907.

| WASHINGTON, Jlne s A prelimin-
AIRY report OF the consumption of pulp
wood and the amount of pulp manufac-
tured last year has just been issued by
the Bureau of the Census. The
advance statement is made from the
statistics collected by the Census
Bureau in cooperation with the United
States Forest Service. Many of the
figures bring out interesting facts
which show the rapid growth of the
paper making and allied industries dur
ing the last decade. Nearly four
million cords of wood, in exact num-
bers 1892, $50 cords, were used in the
United States in the manufacture of
paper pulp last year, just twice as
much as was used in 1899, the first year
for which detailed figures were avail
able. More than two and one-half
| million tons of pulp were produced.
| The pulp mills used SOC, 900 more cords
| Of wood in 1907 than in the previous
year. The amount of spruce used was
IS per cent of the total consumption of
pulp wood, or 2, 100000 cords. The in
creased price of spruce has turned the
attention of paper manufacturers to
number of other woods, hemlock rank
ing next, with 5000 cords, or IA per
than per cent was poplar, and the re-
mainder consisted of relatively small
amounts of pine, cottonwood, balsam
and other woods.
There was a marked increase last year
In the Importation of spruce, which has
always been the most popular wood for
pulp. For number OF years pulp manu-
facturers of this country have been
heavily importing spruce from Canada,
since the available supply OF this wood
in the norJh-central and New England
States, where most of the pulp mills
are located, is not equal to the demand.
Figures show that the amount of this
valuable pulp wood brought into this
country was more than two and one
half times as great in 1907 as In 1899. In
1907 the importations were larger than
ever before, being % per cent. greater
than in 1906. The spruce imports last
year amounted to more than one-third
of the consumption of spruce pulp wood.
Only slightly greater amount of domeS-
tic spruce was used than in 1906.
Large quantities of hemlock were
used by the Wisconsin pulp mills, and
the report shows that the Beaver State |
now ranks third in pulp production,
New York and Maine ranking first and
second, respectively. Popular has been
used for long time in the manufacture
of high grade paper, but the supply of
this wood is limited and the consump-
ton of it has not increased rapidly.
Wood pulp is usually made by either
one of two general processes, mechani-
cal or chemical. In the mechanical
process the wood, after being cut into
suitable sizes and barked, is held
against revolving grindstones in a
stream of water and thus reduced to
pulp In the chemical process the bark
ed wood is reduced to chips and cooked |
in large digesters with chemicals which |
destroy the cementing material of the |
fibers and leave practically pure cellu-
lose. This is then washed and SCREEN
ed to render it suitable for paper max
ing. The chemicals ordinarily used
are either bi-sulphite of lime or caustic
soda. A little over half of the pulp
manufactured last year was made by
the sulphite process, and about one
third by the mechanical process, the re-
mainder being produced by the soda
process. Much of the mechanical pulp,
or ground wood as it is commonly call
ed, is used in the making of newspaper.
1t is never used alone in making white
paper but always mixed with some sui
phite fiber to give the paper strength.
A cord of wood ordinarily yields about
one ton of mechanical pulp or about
one-half ton of chemical pulp.