BAMBOO ; 417 
Raitt * in discussing the paper sources in India describes 
bamboo as an excellent paper material. 
As has been shown in the section deaiing with bamboo, 
Schizostachyum lumampao covers extensive, accessible areas in 
the Philippines. A combination of the data given in Bulletin 15 
for this bamboo and Richmond’s figures for yield of pulp will 
enable us to form an estimate of the amount of pulp that can be 
secured from a given area. In the discussion of this species, 
it was shown that an average hectare of Schizostachyum luman- 
pao contains approximately 9,000 canes. Richmond found that 
an average green stem weighed 7.2 kilograms; an air-dried stem, 
4 kilograms; and an air-dried one without the nodes, 3.75 kilo- 
grams. Using this last figure it will be seen that there would be 
33.75 metric tons of dried material per hectare. Richmond cal- 
culated that 2 metric tons of dried material would give about 1 
short ton of pulp. A hectare should therefore produce about 
17 tons of pulp. 
No exact figures concerning the cost of collection of Schizo- 
stachyum lumampao can be given. It is sold in Orani, Bataan 
Province, at from 8 to 12 pesos per thousand stems. Richmond 
calculated that a thousand canes could be cut and transported 
a distance of 1 to 2 kilometers at a cost of between 6.33 and 8.16 
pesos. All of these figures apply, of course, only to the crude, 
primitive method at present employed in collecting this material. 
However, even at a price of 10 pesos per thousand stems, the 
material for a ton of pulp would cost only 2.50 pesos. 
Concerning the preparation of paper pulp by the soda process 
from Schizostachyum lumampao, we may quote the following 
from Richmond: 
It was found as the result of repeated trials with caustic soda liquors 
under varying conditions of strength, pressure and duration of cooking, 
that bamboo chips prepared as outlined above invariably yielded 43 to 45 
per cent of air-dry, unbleached fiber under the following conditions: 
(a) Upright cylindrical stationary digestors. 
(b) Direct live-steam heat. 
(c) Fifteen to 20 per cent of 76 per cent caustic soda calculated on the 
air-dry weight of the raw material. 
(d) A duration of cooking of four to six hours. 
(e) A maximum temperature of 160° C. (320° F.) corresponding to a 
steam pressure of 45 kilos (90 pounds). 
Fiber thus prepared bleached to a splendid white with 12 to 15 per 
cent of bleaching powder. The fiber was strong, of good felting capacity, 
and it made a more bulky sheet than wood pulp. Bamboo fibers average 
2.5 to 3 millimeters in length, so that they are somewhat longer and 
materially narrower than spruce fibers. 

* Raitt, Wm., New fibers for paper, The Indian Forester, Vol. 36 (1910), 
p. 34. 
16964427 
