lo8 transactions of royal scottish arboricultural society. 



The Pulp Industry of Canada. 



A writer in the Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie de 

 Quebec gives an interesting account of this subject. A 

 remarkable feature of the industry has been its rapid rise, 

 especially in the New World. Its origin is somewhat un- 

 certain, but the discoveries on which it is based are not 

 anterior to the second half of the nineteenth century. In the 

 Old World, the Scandinavian countries have carried the industry 

 to the highest pitch of perfection, and supply not only the greater 

 part of the markets of Europe, but send also some of their 

 product to America. Germany comes next and supplies part of 

 the markets of Central Europe, while Russia has quite recently 

 started pulp factories. 



In America the industry only dates back about twenty-five 

 years, and is confined to the States and to Canada. In the 

 States the decade 1870-80 saw a great development of pulp 

 factories, while it was ten years later before Canada followed. 

 Since 1890 the development of the industry in Canada, both as 

 to the number of factories and as to the output, has been 

 enormous. It is in the province of Quebec especially that the 

 greatest progress has been made, and the industry bids fair to 

 become the predominant one in the province. Before 1897 there 

 were only three pulp factories in this province, now there are 

 thirty-seven. The product differs from Scandinavian pulp in 

 some respects, and at first difficulty was experienced in finding 

 a market for it in England, where the paper-makers preferred 

 the more familiar kind. Now, however, it is extensively used 

 to mix with Scandinavian pulp. But the difficulty with the 

 English market is that it is only available for seven months of 

 the year, and the accumulation of the product during the period 

 when navigation is closed is a serious difficulty. The United 

 States is a better customer even than Great Britain, and there is 

 no winter stoppage in connection with this market. France 

 takes about 5000 tons of pulp, as against the 163,000 tons of 

 the United States, and the 100,000 of Great Britain. 



Three conditions are absolutely indispensable for the success- 

 ful starting of a pulp industry : — water power, an extensive 

 area of forests to draw upon, and large capital. As minor 

 conditions, the purity of the water and the proximity of the 

 market are important. As to the necessary forest area, the 



