Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-06-08
PULP CONSUMPTION
RUNNING INTO BIG
FIGURES
Nearly Three and a Half Million
Cords of Wood Devoured by
PSI Mills in the Country Last
Year.
CForost Service Bulletin.)

II OlGEt ko1i ~
Washington. June 1.-Two hundred
and ffty-one pulp mills in the United
states used 3,346.1O6 cords Of wood.
and made 2,11S,947 tons Of pulp last
year. Spruce has always been the
leading pulp wood, and ii furnished 80
pre- cent of the total quantity used.
The rapid development of the wood
pulp industry in the last ten years
has rendered the domestic supply or
sprucc insufficient to meet the dc
mands upon it, and consequently m
portations from Canada nave been
heavy. In 1908 our pulp mills con
|sumcd nearly one and one-half mill
ion cords of domestic spruce, and over
s70.O cords Of imported spruce,
making the imports of spruce - per
cent OF the domestic supply.
Next to spruce, the most important
pulp wood is hemlock; 569,173 cords
of il were converted into pulp last
year. All the hemlock used was OF do
nestle origin, and most of 1t was pro
duccd in the lake states and Pennsyl-
vania. Although now used in less
quantity than spruce and hemloek,
1ODlatl nd1 AVltk bRfA "a B1ft
wood. A small quantity of poplar is
imported. but by far the larger por-
ton of the more than 100000 cords
used last year was cut from domestic
timber. Spruce, hemlock and poplar
made up go per cent OF the total guam
tity Of pulp wood used. The remain
der was supplied by many species, the
most important of which We're pine,
cottonwood and balsam.
The wood used by the pulp mills
last wear cost them a little mort than
s2S,00O.000. or an average of $S.3S
per cord, against an verag Of ss.21
in 1907. The most costly wood used
was imported spruce, with an average
value OF 1850 per cord. The aver
age for domestic spruce was 1915 per
cord and for poplar. sS.04 per cord.
The cheapest wood which was used in
large quantity vas hcmlock, the cost
being Sc. OF per cord. owing TO the
uncertain business conditions the total
! consumption Of pulp wood in 1908
was nearly I6 per cent less than in
1907. but this die not prevent a con-
siderable increase in the price OF
wood.
The high price of wood is making
the manufacturers be constantly on
the lookout for cheaper raw material
and one OF the most encouraging de-
velopments has been the increased use
of slab wood and other sawmill waste.
This drift in the industry is clearly in
dictated by the fact that 1925 cords
Of mill waste were reported as con
sumcd in pulp manufacture during
1907. while 252, S96 cords. an increase
Of 80 per cent, were used in 1908.
These statements are based upon a
preliminary report Of the consumption
OF pulp wood in the United states in
1908. just issued by the bureau Of tbs
census. The bureau OF the census ano
the forest service cooperate in thu
collection Of annual statistics Of for
est products. and this preliminary re-
port will soon be followed by a bulle
| tin. which viii give detailed infor
nation upon the use OF pulp wood las
year in the various states. the COS
per cord. the amount reduced by n
mechanical sflphite and GODS process.
es, and otho- facts of interest to thu
industry.