NOTES AND QUERIES. 233 



gears into a quadrant cast on the back of the cylinder. The 

 saw is fixed direct to the end of the piston rod, and the teeth are 

 so shaped as to cut only during the inward stroke. By this 

 device saws as long as 9 feet or 10 feet can be worked without 

 any straining apparatus or guide, as the cut made by the saw is 

 sufficient to guide it in a straight line through the tree, and as the 

 teeth offer no resistance on the outward stroke all possibility of 

 the saw buckling is avoided. The machine is supplied with 

 steam at high pressure from a small portable boiler through a 

 flexible steam pipe, wliich is of sufficient length to enable the 

 machine to fell trees extending over a full acre of ground without 

 moving the boiler. — Dispatch, T^ist May 19 10. 



WoOD-PULP. 



The demand for wood-pulp for paper making is now so great 

 all the world over that there is difficulty in meeting it at reason- 

 able prices. So far India has not come into the circle of supply, 

 but in her vast forests she may have a reserve of material upon 

 which paper manufacturers will draw in the future. From a 

 paper by Mr A. J. Gibson, Imperial Forest Economist, it 

 appears that the possibility of making wood-pulp from the 

 Himalayan silver fir and spruce has been under investigation. 

 During the past year Mr Sindall, a paper expert sent out from 

 England, was able experimentally to manufacture excellent pulp 

 from the trees above-mentioned. It is stated that the question is 

 receiving attention in the United Provinces and the Punjab, and 

 it is hoped that an experimental plant will be erected in one of 

 these provinces to test the commercial prospects in India of 

 chemical pulp, and possibly of mechanical pulp also. As prices 

 for wood-pulp are steadily rising, it would seem that the time is 

 most opportune for these experiments. 



The Timber Resources of New Zealand. 



From the last official report on the forests of the colony it 

 appears that, in the opinion of the Government, the existing stock 

 of growing timber will not suffice to meet the demands of the 

 saw-millers for more than about thirty-five years, after which 

 time New Zealand must expect to have to obtain its supply of 

 pine timber from Canada or from Manchuria. 



VOL. XXIII. PART II. Q 



