CROP PLANTS FOR PAPER MAKING, 13 



1,500,000 tons of rice straw are produced annually. At the present 

 time this is largely a waste product, though a small part is fed to stock. 

 It is also baled to some extent and shipped to the larger cities for stable 

 bedding, bringing about $4 to $4.50 a ton. If the price of wood con- 

 tinues to advance, rice straw should be one of the first crop materials 

 put to practical use. 



COTTON -HULL FIBER. 



Cotton-hull fiber is the lint that remains adhering to the hulls after 

 the long fiber has been removed by the gin and the shorter fiber by the 

 reginning machines. The hulls are a by-product of the cottonseed-oil 

 industry. 



The fiber is used to some extent as a source of cellulose in the manu- 

 facture of guncotton; also as a stuffing material for pads and horse 

 collars, and in upholstering. It may be removed from the seed before 

 crushing or from the broken hulls after the seed has been crushed and 

 the kernels extracted. The fiber obtained before crushing has not been 

 tested in the writer's experiments. That obtained from the broken 

 hulls contains a high percentage of the hull material, which is re- 

 moved with some difficulty. As the particles of the hull do not di- 

 gest or bleach as readily as the fiber, they frequently show up in the 

 pulp or finished paper as small brown specks, which would seriously 

 interfere with the salability of the product. 



There is some diversity of opinion among producers as to the 

 quantity of cotton-hull fiber that could be made available. It w^ould 

 probably be rather small. It is not suitable for paper making in a 

 pure state, as it is somewhat deficient in strength, and, furthermore, 

 it will probably command a higher price for other purposes than 

 paper manufacturers can afford to pay. Cooked in the same digester 

 with corn, broom corn, or rice straw, cotton-hull fiber has been found 

 to facilitate greatly the draining of the pulp and also to add softness 

 to the paper. It is possible that its beneficial effect in this respect 

 might make a market for a limited quantity of this material in con- 

 nection with the others mentioned. A further possibility is that this 

 fiber, treated by special processes, may prove suitable for particular 

 grades of paper that command unusually high prices. At present, 

 cotton hulls with the short lint adhering are sold for fertilizer and 

 command $5 to $8 per ton at the point of production. The hulls are 

 also mixed with the ground oil cake after expression of the oil and 

 made into stock foods of various gi-ades. When used as a compo- 

 nent of stock food it is desirable to remove the short lint. Cotton- 

 hull fiber will probably never be used extensively in paper making, 

 and it is only mentioned here because it may prove a valuable adjunct 

 in the Avorking up of other crop by-products. 



tS'Thr paper upon which fhis page is printed icas made from broom-com 

 stalks and poplar wood. Sec page 3. 

 [Cir. 82] 



