526 Transactions. ~ Miscellaneous. 



wreck, to lielp to keep the crew and passengers afloat — every 

 fragment, in fact, being a raft in itself. There can be no doubt 

 as to the result of the comparison. The fitness of the material 

 for boats and small steam-launches has already been demon- 

 strated by actual experiment. It only needs an extension of 

 the principle involved in the construction of these to arrive at 

 the ship of the future, the ideal ship of the Pulp Age. 



There is one circumstance which must not be lost sight of, 

 which will, more than anything else, contribute to the develop- 

 rnoat of the pulp industry — namely, the question of timber-- 

 supply, which is daily becoming one of increasing importance. 

 The timber-supply of the world is by no means inexhaustible. 

 A great part of the Old World has for many years been de- 

 pendent on the forests of the New ; but as the New World fills 

 up by colonisation and settlement it will have enough to do 

 to provide for its own home-consumption. In Canada and in 

 the Western States of America the inroads already made by 

 the farmer and the lumberman are such that i)i a compara- 

 tively short time the "forest primeval " will, with the excep- 

 tion -of a few inaccessible patches, be a thing of the past. Con- 

 servatio]! and replanting on any efficient scale are out of the 

 question ; such things a.re not generally thought of until it is 

 too late. John Bull and Brother Jonathan and their colonial 

 cousins are wont to take the goods the gods provide, without 

 troubling themselves about the wants of posterity. And 

 sooner or later we shall be brought face to face with the ques- 

 tion as to how we shall find flooring for our houses and deck- 

 ing for our ships, not to mention material for our tables and 

 chairs. The solution, I do not hesitate to predict, will be 

 found in the pulp-mill. Under the j)resent system of wood- 

 work the available material is confined to portions of trees of 

 a certain size, and of approved durability ; M'hile, for the manu- 

 facture of pulp, trees of small or imperfect growth, tops, brush- 

 wood, and timber-refuse of all kinds can be turned to ad- 

 vantage. The waste in a timber-bush is something appalling. 

 The actual logs form but a very small fraction of the total 

 growth, quantities of potentially useful stuff are crushed by 

 the falling trees, or used up for skids, kc, and the bulk is left 

 standing, to be swept off by fire during the first dry season. 

 All this lamentable waste would be obviated under the pulp- 

 system, the portion of forest attacked would be mowed off like 

 a field of corn, and every fragment turned to account. In- 

 deed, if the system were generally adopted it would probably 

 be unnecessary to trench on the larger forests at all. In this 

 country, at least, the supply would be kept up for many years 

 from the logs which cumber the clearings of the bush-farmer, 

 and other waste stuff" which at present only serves to take up 

 room and propagate destructive fii-es throughout the country. 



