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(1) “Much has been written as to the rate of growth of the shoot. It is 
probable that an average of three inches per day would not overstate the growth 
of the young shoots of the more important species. Until the branches have 
been fully developed the culm is not mature. This generally occupies a variable 
but considerable period, the shoot attaining its full height in from one to three 
— . 
—— 
months.” 
The question of making paper from bamboo is by no means a new one, 
but has been the subject of much study by paper manufacturers in India 
and other bamboo-producing countries.* 
(2) “Of all the fiber-yielding plants known to botanical science, there is not 
one so well calculated to meet the pressing requirements of the paper trade as 
‘bamboo,’ both as regards facility and economy of production as well as the 
quality of the paper stock which can be manufactured therefrom; grown under 
favorable conditions of climate and soil there is no plant which will give so 
heavy a crop of available fiber to the acre, and no plant which requires so little 
care for its cultivation and continuous production.” 
For the reasons stated on page 434 and because of problems of a 
practical nature which were encountered at the time of Mr. Routledge’s 
inquiries the question of utilizing bamboo for paper stock was abandoned. 
Later, about 1890, the manufacture of paper from elephant grass 
(Ochlandra travancorica), a species of Indian bamboo, was started at 
Travancore, British Burmah, but was discontinued.* 
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(3) “The material proved difficult of treatment. A very large quantity of 
caustic soda was required to reduce the fiber to stock, and an unusually large 
. quantity of bleaching powder had to be employed to make white paper out of 
the yellow colored stock. Then, experiments had to be carried out to ascertain 
what aged culms gave the best results, no experience being obtainable from 
elsewhere on this point. The dost of erecting the works, moreover, far exceeded 
the estimates. The business was carried on for about five years and information 
on many points was recorded but then funds ran out, and just as there seemed 
some prospect of the concern paying, work had to be stopped for want of money. 
This was unfortunate, for experts all agreed that for strength and durability, 
the paper made from the Ochlandra was superior to the best esparto, and for 
cotton mill wrappers and purposes for which strength is a desideratum, this 
material stands unrivaled.” 
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In 1904 the late C. D. Ekman, one of the leading exponents of the 
sulphite pulp process and a European authority on pulp and paper 
manufacture, refers to bamboo pulp.° : 
He called attention to the extreme fitness of bamboo fiber for blending 
with sulphite wood pulp to improve the quality and to remove the 
: woody appearance of the latter. The length of fiber, softness, and 
whiteness of bamboo pulp are equal to these same qualities in the best 
cotton pulp. 
* Routledge: Bamboo as a Paper Making Material, E. & F. N. Spon, London 
(1875). : 
*T. F. Bourdillon: Indian For, (1899), 25, 153. 
°C. D. Ekman: Wochenbl. f. Papier Fab., 35, 461, 462, 
—. 
