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Northern Poplar for Paper Pulp 



The demands for raw material to supply the ivood pulp industry 

 have recently increased in leaps and bounds. In 1900 there were 

 some odd 2,000,000 cords used; iu 1911 there were over 4,328,000 

 cords used; thus increasing over 100 per cent in a decade. Spruce 

 used to be practically the only wood used for paper pulp. Xow it 

 supplies only about fifty-eight per cent of the total amount, and a 

 large portion of our spruce is imported from Canada. Besides spruce 

 a large amount of hemlock, balsam fir and a great variety of hard- 

 woods are coming into common use to supply the increasing demands 

 not only for the newspaper trade but also for nearly every other form 

 in which paper is used. 



Among the most common hardwoods being used are beech, maple, 

 birch, Cottonwood and poplar. During the calendar year 1911, 

 368,000 cords of poplar were used as against 300,000 cords in 1908. 

 It now furnishes about nine per cent of the total supply. Poplar is 

 the usual term applied to two common species found in the Xorth 

 woods, the quaking aspen and the big tooth aspen or poplar. They 

 are botanically closely associated. The former is the populus trem- 

 uJoides and the latter the populus grandUlentata. They are the com- 

 mon trees that spriug up after the land is cut over aud then burned 

 over throughout the 

 northern New Eng- 

 land section, the Ad- 

 irondacks, the lumber 

 region of the lake 

 states and throughout 

 southern Canada. 



Until a few years 

 ago. little attention 

 was paid to this 

 growth, it being re- 

 garded as practically 

 worthless and even in- 

 jurious to a growth of 

 the more valuable 

 trees that might be 

 restocking these cut- 

 over areas. But with 

 tlie rapid disappear- 

 ance of our spruce 

 timber and in looking 

 about for some suc- 

 cessful substitute it 

 was found that the 

 fibers of these poplars 

 adapted themselves 



admirably for use both with the mechanical and chemical process of 

 pulp manufacture. The largest part of it, however, is reduced by the 

 soda process. The qualities that make these poplars valuable in this 

 industry are the comparatively light, even and soft fibered woods. 

 The tissues are straight grained and free from resins, tannins, gums 

 and other undesirable elements. The bark is also very thin and is 

 easily rossed off by the barking machines. The wood of the large 

 tooth aspen is somewhat heavier and harder (specific gravity .46) 

 .than that of the quaking aspen (specific gravity .40). They have 

 found but little demand for use in other industries on account of 

 the weak character of the wood as well as their poor durable quali- 

 ties. However, both, and especially the large tooth aspen, have 

 been considerably used in the excelsior industry and to some extent 

 for box boards, woodenware and toys. 



For paper pulp the average price paid at the mills for the pop- 

 lars is about $8.00 per full cord (a stack 4'x4'xS' long), and the 

 price is steadily advancing as the supply of spruce diminishes. 

 Spruce brings an average of about $10.00 a cord now and some mills 

 are forced to pay as high as $16.00 per cord delivered. There are 

 thousands of acres of burned over laud iu the Adirondacks, northern 



A TYPICAL STAND OF NORTHERN POPLAR GROWING ON AN OLD BURNED TIMBER 

 TRACT NEAR INTERNATIONAL FALLS IN NORTHERN MINNESOT.\. THIS IS COMING INTO 



STRONG DEMAND FOR PULPWOOD 



Maine, Xew Hampshire, ilichigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota that 

 are yielding good stands containing from ten to forty cords of 

 poplar pulpwood per acre. A number of companies have been 

 quietly buying up several large tracts of these old lumbered areas 

 at attractive prices with the intention of cutting the poplar for 

 cordwood. 



Both species grow with remarkable ease and rapidity and several 

 areas in the Adirondacks have been cut over at least two or three 

 times for pulpwood. The big tooth aspen grows to larger size than 

 the other and frequently attains a diameter of from ten to fifteen 

 inches in from fifteen to twenty years. Both trees are compara- 

 tively short lived and decay sets in rapidly after attaining a cer- 

 tain age. The accompanying picture shows a splendid stand of 

 poplar, both of large individual size of trees and of great extent 

 over a considerable area. The trees stand fairly close together, trim 

 themselves readily of the lower limbs and grow tall and straight. 



These poplars should not be confused with the yellow poplar, the 

 Carolina poplar or cottonwood which is a common tree in our eastern 

 hardwood forests. This tree is also a very rapid grower and has 

 been recently urged as a splendid tree to plant for pulp purposes 



in various lumber 

 and forestry circles. 

 It has been widely 

 planted for decorative 

 purposes and has been 

 successfully used in 

 producing a paper of 

 very high order. 



On several hard- 

 wood operations, both 

 the poplar and the 

 cottonwood are being 

 cut into cordwood 

 lengths and shipped 

 to pulp mOls since 

 they often command 

 a better price when 

 utilized in this form 

 than in any other. 



Those who reduce 

 cordwood to board 

 measure generally fig- 

 ure that a cord is 

 equivalent to six hun- 

 dred board feet, but 

 that factor is not in 

 universal use. The accuracy depends largely upon the size and form 

 of the sticks, the more open the ricks the less the actual quantity of 

 wood present. 



Over forty years ago an eastern railroad purchased one hundred 

 lignum-vitee ties at a cost of four dollars apiece. Of the original 

 number forty are still in service and have outworn three sets of rails. 

 The other sixty were removed because they were "spiked to death" 

 and not from decay. 



« * * 



Libraries, locker-rooms and shower-baths are found in some big 

 flooring plants, indicating that the owners of these establishments 

 believe that aiding their men to keep clean, and to improve their 

 minds with the right kind of reading, is not only humanitarian 

 work, but a positive asset of the institution. It is easy to believe 

 that the man who is employed in a flooring factory which takes 

 account of his value as a man as well as a machine hand, is going 

 to develop an intense degree of loyalty; and loyalty is a mighty 

 asset in the battle for business, as well as in military operations. 



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