Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-22

0HHERE is an increasing use of
miscellaneous woods IN the pro-
duction of pulp for paper-mak-
Ing. and the wooded lands in the v.cin-
ity OF Washington have been making
thelr contribution to the pulp mills.
Woods considered Of little or no value
as pulp wood a few years ago have
within the past decade been finding a
ready market, and several varieties
once believed to be of value only as
f1rewood are now shipped to distant
to clear up many thousand acres of
land In the Potomac. Patuxent and
Rappahannock valleys and the return
OF large area to agricultural uses.
According to the twelfth census of
the United States. there were con-
sumed In the United States during 1900
1.eSas1o cords of pulp wood. The
Of domestic spruce. 120.s20 cords Of inn
ported spruce and 81. 79l cords Of other
woods. such as hemlock, jackpine, pop
lar and balsam. or a total OF TS6,S4o
cords. The census showed that during
1909 the amount of wod used in all
processes was 1901 ,6o7 cords. the
ground wood process using a total of
1.246,121 cords. which consisted of
S06.2S2 cords Of domestic spruce, BIZ
$50 cords of imported spruce and
122.550 cords Of other miscellaneous
woods.
], H. Th!ckens, chemical engineer of
forest products of the forest service,
Department of Agriculture. in a study
of experiments with jackpine and hem
lock for mechanical pulp, interpreted
the foregoing figures in this way:
Thus the increase in the total amount
Of pulp wood used during this period
was 101 per cent, while the amount
of pulp wood of all kinds used for
ground wood increased $50 per cent
The domestic spruce consumption for
this purpose increased 35 per cent. and
the consumption of miscellaneous
woods e0.6 per cent. But the largest
increase was in the use of imported
creased 1872 per cent"
Jackpine and poplar are the princi-
pal woods in the territory around
Washington which are being cut and
shipped for conversion into pulp. The
authorities have said that the reason
jackpine and hemlock have not pre-
viously come into use Is the belief that
the pine contains too much pitch and
the hemlock yields too short fiber.
The government experimenters have
said that 1t seems to be the general I'm
preston that hemiock grinds so fine
and short that there IL a great loss in
conversion. 1t has been said that the
yield obtained In many instances Is
only three-ffths of that from an equal
amount of spruce. But during the gov
eminent tests this alleged loss in the
grinding of hemlook was not observed.
The pitch In jaokpino. reported tho gov
eminent observers. 10 undoubtedly re-
sponHibie for the lack of attention paid
to that wood. but this Ia being overcome
by steaming or sonking. The investi-
gators reported that In all the expert
ments the yields secured from the diff
ferent woods were In direct proportion
to their bons-dry weight per cubic foot
1t Is therefore to be expected that the
yields from tho jackpine and hemlock
will be lesH per unit of volume than
those from spruce. since the first two
woods are considerably lighter in
weight. On the basis of weight, how
ever. they say, there appears to be
relatively more loss in converting jack
pine into pulp than in converting
spruce. The fiber obtained from the
ground hemleek has been considered
unsa tisfactory on account of it's short
ness. yet 1T has been found long enough
for use in the making of cheap papers.
certain shortcomings,
the government experts reported 1t Is
possible to obtain jackpins pulp. which
Is commercially suitable for the cheap
er grades .of paper.
In AnAnRs ~ tkA result ct the