Evening star., 1932-01-31
BY DIR. CHARLES II. HERTY.

There YOU are DeyOnQ IHe AFHIaOIe
temperatures and utilization Of carbon
dioxide to produce Cellulose, the frame
work Of plants II you go to the tropics
you find the maximum conditions lol
producing CellulOSe.
There is no better illustration Of the
growing power OF the tropics than the
story of fence posts which sprout But
the Jungle conditions of trOpiC growth
are unfavOrable for harvesting.
Cellulose is probably the most i'm
portant material in the world for man
needs For the permanent production
Of quantities sufficient to supply the
world we must look to the temperate
zone where temperature moisture ano
carbon dioxide enable the suns rays 70
make plant growth with reasonable
rapidity, and where the cellulose pro
duCing growths can be harvested Win
reasonable comfort and facility.
For this purpose the best place in
the Western Hemisphere is In the
Southern States Of the United States
The next question is whether we have
enough land in the South for such a
great cellulose crop. That is the section
where pre- -eminently the land is avail
able Formerly whole sections OF the
South were wood forests-yelloW pine,
that now has been mostly cut. the
statistics of the forecast service show
more than 100000 600 acres Of unpro-
ductive land waiting in the South TODAY,
That land. with proper care, Will pro-
duce YEARLY two cords of wood per acre
possibly 2O0.OOOUOO cords Of wood.
And so per cent of this wood is CelluloSe.
Wait Only 10 Years.
The next question is how long we
must wait until such a crop begins to
bring financial returns. The answer IS
! 0 wears. as cOntrasted with 30 to 6O
years wait in the colder climates Of our
Northern States. Canada or Northern
Europe.
What is the best way to utilize this
wood forest cellulose? There are two
ways One is to grind the wood to make
mechanical pulp, which constitutes
about 80 per cent Of all the newsprint.
The same pulp has almost infinite pos
sibilitieS for other purposes. for When
YOU get wood finely divided it is In con-
dition for making plastics and synthetic
resins. and opens all sorts Of possibilities
for uses where it can be nodded into
any given form, with practically no
waste
Therefore. it is easy to foresee that
the present use Of lumber may be sup
planted by synthetic lumber. utilizing
only third is used.
The other way to utilize the cellulose
crop is to treat the wood chemically
with certain liquors under pressure,
then dissolve out the liquors and nave
left the celluloSe fbers. That is the ma
terial today forming the basis OF white
paper. rayOn. artificial leather Cellulold,
varnishes. transparent wrappers, papier
macha and a host Of other things.
Today in the South pine wood which
has grown up without any special care
is being converted into cellulose in
sulphate mills and made into KRAFT
paper and COntainer board.
In this board there is the prophecy
of what is going to happen to lumber.
Today cOntainer board already has
supDlantpd the old-fashioned case made
from wood for packing cases.
Another prophetic thing is that
throughout the depression these kraft
mills have been working full time and
making money. while similar mills In
the North had TO Curtail operations.
The Southern activity is explained by
the low cost of wood, power labor and
mild climate. which permits au-year-
round operation under pretty much the
same conditions. Kraft is brown
wrapping paper.
Il has always been held that these
pines in the South which grow so rap
idly are too full Of resin for making
white paper. Further 1t was held that
they could not be pulped by the sui
phite process so universally employed
where spruce is used.
There is a mixture Of errors here
which has kept back up to now de-
velOpment of the white paper industry
in the South. 1t is perfectly true that
H. rf F,11l
where the bulk Of wood is heart wood,
with only a thin outer layer of sap
wood. it is rich in resin and also that
It cannot be digested by the sulphite
process. But it isn't true at all OF pines
under 25 years Of age.
Pines Have Little Resin.
There was all sorts of confusion on
this point until finally we went to the
old laboratory methods to find out the
facts On analysis it was learned TO
our amazement that there Is only a
very small quantity of resin in young
pines. practically the same amount as
In Northern spruce.
The next step was to learn what
these Young trees would do when
pulped. There again We found by actual
experiment that they pulped as readily
as spruce.
Finally, possibly owing to the con-
fusion Of the old name OF yellow pine,
1t always had been thought impossible
to bleach this pine-Or only at great
cost and at the expense Of strength Of
fiber. But in tests we found that this
young yellow pine pulp bleached readily
and with a whittier fiber and smaller
consumption Of bleaching liquor Thus
another miSConCeption was obliterated.
These experiments were carried out
on slash pine There is a miSCOncep-
ton about slash pine. 1t is not scrub
pine nor "slashings,' but distinct
speCies-pinus cubensis or pinus hetero-
phylla The latter name was given be-
cause this pine carries on every bough
bundles Of needles, some two and some
three to the bundle. indiscriminately
mixed. which serve easily to distinguish
it from adjacent loblolly and long
leaf pine, on which every bundle con-
tains three needles.
The slash pine is the most rapidly
growing of all the Southern pine. Ac-
Cording to official figures Of the United
States Forest Service, Southern pine
makes the finest lumber, is the finest
producer Of naval stores and grows
the fastest of all Southern pines
The resin does not come from the
pine. but as the result Of a wound
a pathological product The miScon-
Ception about the source Of the resin
has been another great drawback to
the South
The United States Forest Products
Laboratory at Madison Wis, has made
beautiful white paper from this slash
pine. SO we have sufficient qualita
tive evidence to justify the confident
belief that white paper can be manu-
featured in the South from young pine
with perfect success.
To hasten solution we are now in
the midst of installing a Semi-com-
mercial research plant in Savannah.
It is made possible by three factors.
One is $4,000 for equipment from the
Chemical Foundation Of New York.
Second appropriation Of $4,000 an
nually for personnel, maintenance and
operations by the Georgia Legislature.