Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-06-04
FOUR MILLION
CORDS Of WOOD
USED LAST YEAR FOR PAPER
MAKING IN THE UNITED
STATES.
QUANTITY HAS JUST DOUBLED
SINCE 1899 AND is INCREAs-
ING FAST.
SPRUCE MOSTLY IN DEMAND
BUT MANUFACTURERS TURN
TO OTHER GROWTHS.

Washington, June "A prelimi,
nary report of the consumption OF
pulpwood and the amount OF pulp
manufactured 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 Unit
ed States forest service.
Many of the figures bring out inter
estiug facts which show the rapid
growth OF the paper making and al
lied Industries during the last de
cade. Nearly four million cords OF
wood, il exact numbers 1926
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 de-
tailed figures were available. More
than two and one-half million tons
of pulp were produced. The pulp
mills used 100000 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 100000 cords. The
increased price OF spruce has turned
the attention Of paper manufacturers
to a number of other woods, hcmlock
ranking next, with $4,000 cords, or
IA PEI cent OF the total consumption
More than 8 per cent was poplar and
the remainder consisted of relatively
small amounts of pine, cottonwood,
balsam and other woods.
There was marked increase last
year in the importation of spruce,
which has always been the most pop
uIar wood for pulp. For a number
OF years pulp manufacturers of this
country have been heavily importing
spruce from Canada, since the avail
able supply OF his wood in the north
central and New England states,
where most OF the pulp mills are To-
Gated is not equal to the demand.
Figures show that the amount Of this
valuable pulp wood brought into this
Icountry 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 %
iper cent greater than in 1906. The
spruce imports last year amounted
Ito more than One-third OF the con
sumption of spruce pulp wood. Only
a slightly greater amount OF dOmes-
tic spruce was used than in 1906.
Large quantities of hemIock were
used by the Wisconsin pulp mills,
state now ranks third IN pulp pro
duction, New York and Maine rank
ing first and second, respectively.
Poplar has been used for a long time
in the manufacture OF high grade pa
iper, but the supply of this wood is
limited and the consumption of it has
not increased rapidly.
Wood pulp is usually made by
either one of two general processes,
Mechanical or chemical. In the me
chanical process the wood, after
being cut into suitable sizes and
DdI hCuy 10 uGIu dEStLlllob lI ' Va ' ~ .
lgrindstones in a stream of water and
thus reduced to pulp. In the chem
IicaI process the barked wood is re.
duced to chips and cooked in large
fdigesters with chemicals which de-
strOy the cementing material Of the
Ifibers and leave practically pure
ceIluIose. This is then washed and
screened to render it suitable fOI
paper makil Z. The chemicals ordi
Inarily used are either bi-sulphite oil
lime, or caustic soda. A little over
half of the pulp manufactured last
year was made by the sulphite pro
cess, the remainder being produced
by the soda process. Much Of the
mechanical pulp, or ground wood as
lit is commonly called, 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.