Vol. VIII. No. 189. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



231 



POSSIBILITIES OF PAPER-MAKING 



INDUSTRIES. 



In the PHiLiprixKSi. 



In the Seventh Annual Report of the Director of 

 the Bureau of Science, Manila, lor the year ended 

 August 1, 1908, attention is drawn to the experimental 

 work which is being carried out with a view to testing 

 the suitability ibr paper making, of ceitain fibres 

 and fibrous substances in the Philippines, and the 

 advisability of installing a small plant with the object 

 of making practical investigations of the pulping quali- 

 ties of various materials is strongly brought forward. 



There .seems to be no doubt, to judge from the numerous 

 inquiries, that ultimately, a great paper industry will be 

 established in the Islands. The large supplies of the different 

 classes of bamboos, grasses and other tibre-produeing materials, 

 and the diminution of the available sujiply in other parts of 

 the world, will render this necessary. 



It is further mentioned that, as a result of investigations 

 at Manila, and of those of the British in Burmah, it is 

 certain that there are a number of raw materials in the 

 Philippines which are entirely suitable for paper-pulp manu- 

 facturing. Attention has been called to the po.ssibilities of 

 the industry, but the alleged reason why no develo[inient has 

 as yet resulted, is that capitalists desire particulars of actual 

 commercial practice, and not because the world's markets 

 feel that the existing available supply is a permanent one. 

 The report also makes reference to the recent legislative 

 attempts to regulate the wood-pulp tariff in the United 

 States, which were undertaken because of the decreasing 

 supply of raw material and the increased cost of wood-pul[>. 

 In Ceylon. 



In connexion with the exhaustion of the wood 

 supply for paper-making purposes, to which attention 

 has been called above, as well as in recent numbers of 

 the Agricultural iVcfcs, the following extracts from 

 a letter from Mr. W. Raitt (a chemical engineer and 

 paper fibre expert of Bangalore, South India), to the 

 Tropical Agriculturist for May, will perhaps prove of 

 interest. 



After pointing out that pulp must be produced 

 very cheaply, and from plants which grow without 

 cultivation, he continues : — 



Bamboo alone is capable of supplying tens of millions of 

 tons (of pulp) annually without injury to its permanence or 

 reproduction. By what is known as the acid process, it 

 yields an excellent pulp for news- or cheap book-paper, and 



at a cost considerably below that of wood 



My own investigations indicate that, in average bamboo 

 jungle, a well-regulated system of cropping v/ill yield 5 tons 

 per acre annually, or 2-} tons of pulp, worth £7 to £S per 

 ton, f.o.b. ; and an area of 8 square miles would suffice 

 to keep a mill making 10,000 tons per annum supplied 

 in jterpeluum. 



Besides bamboo, there are several species of annual 

 grass, such as Idclioemum anguMifolium of Central 

 India. These are capable of being treated by the 

 alkaline method, which involves considerably less 

 capital outlay than the acid process, and may be worked 

 profit.ibly on a much smaller scale. The pulp produced 

 is equal to that of J'^sparto, and suitable for high class 

 printing and writing papers, and is worth about £9 to 

 £10 per ton, fo.b. 



In recent numbers of the Agricultural News brief 

 articles have appeared dealing with the consumption 

 of forest products in paper manufacture, and these were 

 published with a view to encouraging to further effort 

 those who are experimenting in the production of paper 

 from other materials. The present time would seem 

 opportune for the people in the Philippines to take 

 steps in the direction of the commercial utilization of 

 their fibres. 



FISH AND MOSQUITOS. 



The following notes, in connexion with the use of 

 millions for the destruction of mosquito larvae, are 

 taken from the Bulletin uf the Societe Beige iVEtmlei^ 

 Culoniides for June 1909 : — 



It is known that millions are not the only fish which 

 are responsible for the destruction of mosijuito larvae. Ter- 

 burgh states that the mosquito larvae disappeared from 

 a ditch as soon as a certain fish, of the genus Gahus, was 

 introduced. The Tropical Institute of Hamburgh has 

 known for several years that small accumulations of water 

 could be kept free of all larvae by fish of .several species. 

 Similar measures have been iirf)posed for Togo, Africa, by 

 Dr. Otto. 



At Togo, experiments were made with sixteen kinds of 

 fish from the lagoon of Anicho, all 1.5 centimetres long. The 

 results were the .same with all of them. In a short time 

 after they were placed in the water all larvae were swallowed. 



For further proof, six small fish, about 3 centimetres long, 

 were put into a ve.s.sel containing 100 to 150 larvae. In two 

 minutes, half the number was swallowed, and in half an hour 

 there were no more larvae. This experiment was repeated three 

 times with the same results. The little, .semi-transparent fish 

 had swelled, and one could easily verify that the stomach 

 was completely filled. The six fish had then destroyed up- 

 wards of -too larvae in about three hours. 



These fish are all known to the natives, who are a fish- 

 ing people, and who have names for them. Those particularly 

 .selected for their qualities of small size and great resistance 

 are : (1) Sinkokpoloevi, I centimetres \\'i inche.s] long, which 

 lives well in captivity, even in foul water ; (2) Bocvi, 

 20 centimetres [S inche.s] long ; (3) Akpavi, -10 centimetres 

 [16 inches] long. 



The Sinkokpoloevi is suitable for small puddles, the 

 other two for average sized ones. All three are of the same 

 value for large pieces of water. 



At Anichf), tliL' fight against mosquitos has been greatly 

 hindered by the numerous boats out of service on the beach. 

 The water in the bottoms of these boats forms an excellent 

 breeding place for mosquitos. For a long time the natives 

 have followed the plan of putting small fish in the bottoms 

 of the boats. 



The results in general, are much the same as those 

 experienced in the West Indies when millions have 

 been used for reducing the numbers of mosquito 

 larvae. In the article which recently appeared in the 

 We'<t Indian Bulletin, entitled ' Millions and Mos- 

 quitos ' it was mentioned that mosquito-eating fish 

 were known in Africa. 



It may be added that a consignment of millions 

 (Girardinus poeciloides) has been taken from 

 Barbados to Southern Nigeria, and it will be interesting 

 to know later what results are obtained from the 

 introduction of this small fish into the waters of 

 Western Afrixja. 



