Putnam patriot., 1911-03-03
United States Wood Pulp Mill.

l Officials of the Department of Agri. | culture have received with satisfaction announcement from the experimental ground wood pulp mill which the De- partment has been equipping at Wau- sau, Wisconsin, in cooperation with the American Pal p and Paper A ssocia. citation, that the mill has begun to grind
 The carrying on of the tests now an- nounced as under way, was provided for by a special appropriation, placed al the disposal of the Secretary of Az rieulture, by Congress, last winter, to conduct tests of the suitability for pa. per making of plants and woods which SC m likely to become valuable sources of supply of new material.
 Secretary Wilson considered that the best use which could be made of this nancy would be to conduct eXpeH- ments, on commercial scale, with various kinds of wood. Some of these | have already been studied in the labor atory and found ito be intrinSically suitable for pulp manufacture Indeed, the Forest service has actually made paper by one of the chemical processes from several of them. But in order to know whether they can be utilized, under present conditions, 1t is necessa- " To test them under methods oi ma nufacture comparable 10 those em plny- eel In actual business operations. In particular, 1t is desired to find out to what extent new woods can be used for ground pulp, the cost of which is usually less than that of chemical pulp.
 The Wau>au min has been built es. pecially for the use of the government for as long aS the experiments may re. quire. It's inside dimensions are 40ty loo feet, ana Il k equipped with elec lricai machinery and all necessary app paratuS Of the most up to date type. Part of the equipment is contributed by the Pulp aud Paper Association and part is furnished by the government.
 The Association will also furnish the wood for the tests The wood now on hand includes carload lotSet mck pine, spruce, hemloek and tamufaek The jack pine is Jo oe the dr>t wood tested. ! While the experiments arc intended to cover woods from ali paris ol the country which, from the standpoint of physical properties and ae ai4anle sup plies, promises to furnish new material for the paper making industry, a >pe- eiai point will be made oi lesl> of West eh woods which are abundant in the National iotesls. There are enormous supplies of various soft woods in these forests for which there now exists it- tie demand, and this fact constitutes one of the serious problems ol manage ment of the National forests. In order 10 have forests produce timber steadily they must be cut; but If there is n market only for timber from the most valuable kinds of trees, the result of cutting is likely to be the disappear. ance of these trees and their replace
 
 ment In the forest growth by species which are not in demand. Since the pulp mills take material too small Ter the lumber mills, species suitable Tor pspermaking can be cut to low timber diameter, and thus the balance may be turned in favor of the repro duction of the more valuable kinds of trees.
 In addition to the benefit which the public will derive from the advance ment of forest conservation in conse- quenee of the wood pulp experiments of the government, there Is the further benefit of cheaper paper which |, is believed these experiments should make possible. The price of paper of