The Republican journal., 1911-02-23
AN EXPERIMENTAL PULP MILL.
WASHINGTON, February 20. Oficia

WASHINGTON, February 20 Officials
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture
have received with satisfaction announce
ment from the experimental ground
wood pulp mill which the Department
has been equipping at Wausau, Wiscon-
sin, in cooperation with the American
Pulp and Paper Association, that the
mill has begun to grind. The carrying
on of the tests now announced as under
way was provided for by special ap-
preparation, placed at the disposal of the
Secretary of Agriculture by Congress
last winter, to conduct tests of the suit
ability for paper making of plants and
woods which seem likely to become val
liable sources of supply of new material.
Secretary Wilson considered that the
best use which could be made of this
money would be to conduct experiments,
on commercial scale, with various
kinds of wood. Some of these have al
ready been studied in the laboratory,
and found to 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 proftably be utilized, under
present conditions, it is necessary to test
them under methods of manufacture
comparable to those employed in actual
business operations. In particular, it 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 Wausau mill has been built espec-
tally for the use of the Government for
as long as the experiments may require.
Its inside dimensions are 40 by 100 feet,
and it is equipped with electrical ma
chinery and all necessary apparatus of
the most up-to-date type. Part of the
equipment is contributed by the Ameri-
can Pulp and Paper Association, and part
is furnished by the Government. The
e@oSoSieACloll " LII cloO 1ullllSll GIle WOOu lOI
the tests. The wood now on hand in
cludes carload lots of jack pine, spruce,
hemlock, and tamarack. The jack pine
is to be the first wood tested.
While the experiments are intended tc
cover woods from all parts of the coun.
try which, from the standpoint of physi-
cal properties and available supplies,
promise to furnish new material for the
paper-making industry, a special poin,
will be made of tests of Western woods
which are abundant in the National for
ests. There are enormous supplies Of
various softwoods in these forests fol
which there now exists little demand
and this fact constitutes one of the seri-
GUS problems of management Of the Ma
tional forests. In order to have forest:
produce timber steadily they must be
cut; but if there is a market only fol
timber from the most valuable kinds Of
trees the result of cutting is likely to b.
the disappearance of these trees ane
their replacement in the forest growth
by species which are not in demand
Since the pulp mills take material to-
small for the lumber mills, species suit
able for paper making can be cut to
low timber diameter, and thus the bal
ance may be turned in favor of the re
production of the more valuable kinds O
trees
In addition to the benefit which tn
public will derive from the advancement
of forest conservation in consequence O.
the wood pulp experiments of the Gov
eminent, there is the further benefit o
cheaper paper which it is believed thes
experiments should make possible. Tn
price of paper of the cheaper grades
including news paper, has been advanc
ing rapidly of recent years as the suppl.
of spruce has dwindled, and American
mills are now drawing a large part o
their supply from Canada. If groun'
pulp of the requisite quality can be mad
from new and abundant woods as cheap
ly as it Is made from spruce, one of tn
most serious problems of the newspape
publisher nowadays will, or should be, con
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