BAMBOO PULP AS PAPER MATERIAL 343 



In reading the circulars upon which this article is hased it must be borne 

 in mind that they represent a body of knowledge which is still rapidly 

 progressing. Some later facts are indeed mentioned in this article. The 

 principles embodied in them, however, are well established, and it is the 

 practice under those principles that is being perfected. Nor are these publica- 

 tions intended to be complete lists of the insects injurious to our forests. They 

 include only those types that are of most importance and of which the Bureau 

 of Entomology has suflSciently complete data to know how to deal with them. 



BAMBOO PULP AS THE PAPER MATERIAL OF THE 



FUTURE 



By harry VINCENT 



OHAT bamboo pulp is the one material that is likely to come to the front 

 as a main source of paper stock supply, is the opinion of the World's Paper 

 Trade Review of London (February 24, 1911). The difiSculty heretofore 

 has been in the bleaching, as the coloring matter could not be eliminated 

 except by the expensive caustic soda process. This has now been obviated. 

 The great advantage that bamboo has over other pulp material is in the 

 growing. A piece of land once established in bamboo can be cut over annually 

 for an indefinite period, as given a favorably watered situation, and preferably 

 a gravelly soil, the bamboo in the tropics grows to an altitude of thirty feet 

 or more yearly. As it requires but a three-year period to establish a field, it is 

 perfectly plain that neither wood nor any other material can compete with it. 

 As the United States has control over large territories in Porto Rico and 

 the Panama Zone most suitable for bamboo cultivation (which is extremely 

 simple) there should be no difiQculty in getting a permanent future supply 

 up to millions of tons a year. 



The advantages of bamboo as a pulp maker are: (1) It has a good, strong 

 vegetable fiber; (2) it is in general easily accessible for water transport; (3) 

 it is cheap and easily collected; (4) it is available in large quantities and 

 abundant within a given area; (5) it is available for a regular and constant 



