St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1909-03-17
Scrub Pine for Wood Pulp.

The long neglected and despised scrub
or Jersey pine, growing on the abandon
ed farms and cut-over lands of the east,
seems destined at last to have reached
Its rightful place as a material of value,
according to the results obtained through
recent pulp and paper making tests at
the United States Forest Service labora-
tories in Washington. While there is a
considerable amount of this wood stand
ing as timber, it has heretofore been used
only in very desultory fashion, and
then mostly as fuel. About 100000
acres, or 20 per cent of the wooded area
OF Maryland, and about 10000 acres,
or 10 per cent OF that of Virginia, is
covered with fairly dense stands, while
the broad range of the tree extends a.
long the Atlantic seaboard from south
ern New York to South Carolina and
back over the Appalachians to central
Indiana where it's largest specimens are
found.
While a number of mills have used
scrub pine for the manufacture of soda
pulp and ground wood. no plants have
ever operated the sulphite process.
Scrub pine might have been used to good
advantage long ago, but for the fact
that it did not seem to the practical
papermaker even worthy of trial. By
only slight changes of the regular cook
ing treatment which is ordinarily accord
ed pulp wood in the sulphite process,
however, it has now yielded pulp pro-
duct which has been favorably comment
ed upon by numerous members of the
paper trade as substitute for spruce
sulphite in the manufacture of news
paper.
When forest of scrub pine is matured,
fully stocked stand will yield 80 to 40
cords per acre, when economically har-
vested according to the practical forest
ry methods. At the present time there is
practically no general use for the timber,
outside of fuel, although coarse lumber
is made of it and is sometimes used for
fencing. An evidence of the low esteem
in which this pine is held is the price
which the Maryland wood brings when
delivered, $5,75 per cord. The wood
itselfis of a light yellow color, with
white sap wood. 1t is light in weight, is
brittle, and coarse grained. While it is
fairly durable in contact with the
weather, its weak structural properties
Offset any advantage this might give.
The fiber is strong and durable and is
about the same size as that of spruce,
being possibly a trihe broader. The
yields obtained by the Forest Service are
about the same as are obtained from the
woods now in general paper making
use. The amount of screenings is very
low. Scrub pine presents no serious dis
advantages in regard to bleaching. A
good white color is readily brought
about. While some of the cooks require
more bleach than is ordinarily practical
or economical, yet by cooking properly
the amount of bleach required has been
brought down to $50 pounds or 35 per
cent bleach per ton of pulp. By slightly
changing the conditions of treatment, it
is believed that still lower percentages
may be employed while the color pro-
duced remains the best white.
Practical paper makers who have seen
this product are almost unanimous in
claiming it to be a strong, long-fbered,
and hard wearing pulp, which seems
especially desirable for making bag,
news and wrapping papers. Several
even went so far as to say that it would
make fine bank or ledger papers when
properly handled, and that this wood
gave one of the best tibers which has
been prepared from pine wood.