1877.] 



AND HORTIGULTURIST. 



23 



middle, and 5 at the smaller end, where broken 

 ofF; so that the butt for 60 feet squared 7 feet of 

 timber, and 4 for its entire length. £20 were 

 offered for this tree. 



Forests in Europe. — If there is any change in 

 the climate of Europe, it can hardly be from the 

 disappearance of foresto. Recent statistics say 

 that about twenty per cent, of the whole area of 

 Europe is covered with forest, aggregating 500,- 

 000,000 acres. We do not, however, regard these 

 floating figures as always reliable, but give them 

 as they come to us. There is a great deal of 

 loose calculation going on in the world. 



Alder and Sweet Fern in Tanning. — When 

 forestry becomes a business, all the minor prod- 

 ucts will be incidents of profit. The Alnus and 

 Comptonia seem to have good points about them. 



The Ellsworth American says that Captain 

 Eaton made another shipment of two hundred 

 barrels of sweet fern extract to the Boston leather 

 market and with it his first consignment of extract 

 of alder. This alder extract, like sweet fern ex- 

 tract, is new to the leather trade of this country. 

 The tanning properties of these new agents 

 have been thoroughly tested by practical tanners 

 of Ellsworth, and found to be equal to, if not 

 superior to the best tannin material in use in 

 this country. Calf skins tanned with both the 

 fern and the alder are as mellow and firm as the 

 best tanned French calf skins, and much more 

 beautiful in color. 



The Profits of Oak Timber.— We give the 

 following as we find it in a foreign paper, be- 

 cause it shows the incidental profits that may be 

 made in growing oak. We doubt, however, 

 whether for paper pulp anything will be found 

 so profitable as poplar. Though nothing can be 

 made from the bark, it grows into profit so soon : — 



" Dr. Mitscherlich, of Darmstadt, has devised 

 a method of making paper stock (cellulose) 

 from wood by a chemical process, which differs 

 somewhat from those previously in use. The 

 chief peculiarity of this process, which is in use 

 already in Prussia and Saxony, says the Hesse 

 GewerheblaU, consists in this, that the incrusting 

 substance of the wood is not destroyed, but only 

 separated from the cellulose, and eventually 

 rendered soluble. 



" In this process, it is not necessary to cut the 

 wood up very fine, as in the Sinclair process, but 

 only to split it up like ordinary firewood for a 

 parlor stove. A chemically prepared solution 



of lime is boiled for six hours with the wood 

 under a pressure of three atmospheres. After 

 the boiling, a portion of the incrusting material 

 is found dissolved in the liquor, and part of it in 

 the pores of the wood, from which it is extracted 

 by a suitable squeezing apparatus. 



" If it is desired to make a very valuable paper 

 stock, which shall be as white as possible without 

 bleaching, they only employ white wood as free 

 from rosin as possible, like poplar, linden, etc. 

 These kinds of wood are not decolorized any 

 farther in this process, and the albuminoid and 

 gummy substances are mostly dissolved. The 

 success of this process depends less on the pres- 

 sure during boiling than on the temperature, 

 which must not exceed 248° Fah. 



" The use of oak wood for paper stock offers 

 one advantage, namely, that the tannin con- 

 tained in it is obtained as a by-product, and the 

 solution thus obtained can be very profitably 

 employed for tanning, as experiments in this 

 direction have abundantly proved. The solution 

 which runs off from the wood, or expressed from 

 it, in this new process, is already so concentrated 

 that evaporation seems superfluous, and is only 

 undertaken when a very concentrated solution 

 of tannic acid is required either for transporta- 

 tion or for keeping. The other chemicals con- 

 tained in the lye are in no way a hindrance to 

 the tanning process, but rather aid it. Experi- 

 ments show that hides prepared in the usual man- 

 ner, when simply laid in this liquor, were per- 

 fectly tanned in ten days." 



QUERIES. 



Eucalyptus globulus in Vermont.— H. N. R., 

 Brandon, Vermont, writes:— "A friend in Italy 

 has secured for me a few hundred plants of this 

 wonderful tree, and of which I propose to make ^ 

 a plantation on a piece of land I have. I am 

 quite elated at the prospect of being the first in 

 this part of the world to introduce it— at least I 

 suppose I am, for I can learn of no one who has 

 planted it hereabouts ; though in the papers I see 

 they have it growing in California. As I wish it 

 to do well I wish you to assist me with advice, 

 as I am informed you are liberal with question- 

 ers through the Gardener's Monthly. If you are 

 kind enough to reply to my questions please 

 send me a copy of the paper containing your 



