GROUND WOOD PULP MILLS AND CHEMICAL FIBER MILLS 



157 



PARAGRAPH XXXI. 

 GROUND WOOD PULP MILLS AND CHEMICAL FIBER MILLS. 



(A) HISTORICAL REMARKS. Up to the year 1854, paper was made from cotton, linen and hemp 

 fiber, precipitated from a mush in the shape of a matting. The use of mechanically ground wood (pulp) 

 dates back to 1854. 



Since 1867 wood has been further refined by chemical processes which separate the wood into thinner 

 strings of cells and free it from rosin, tannin, albumen, gums, &c. 



In the United States there were at hand in 1890, 82 mills; in 1909, 253 mills (counted by the census). 



Rags, manila, straw, and waste paper, used as raw material for paper, still vie in value with the 

 wood used as raw material. 



Japanese paper is made of the inner bark of a mulberry tree, Brussonetia, and of the shoots of 

 Edgeworthia. 



For highest grades of writing paper, cotton and linen are used. 



In 1900, close to 2,000,000 cords of wood were consumed, of which quantity three fourths were 

 spruce and one fourth poplar and miscellaneous. The average value per cord was •-•■5. 



In 1909, over 4,000,000 cords of wood were consumed, and the average value had risen to -y8'62. 



The participation in the total consumption of the various species, domestic and imported, during 1909, 

 appears from the following census tabulation:- 



(') The value of cottonwood is not given ; its use has declined rapidly of late years. 



(B) STATISTICAL REMARKS. One cord of wood yields one ton of ground pulp wood (mechanical 

 fiber) or one half ton of chemical fiber, in the so-called "news grade" 70 per cent of pulp is mi.xed 

 with 30 per cent of chemical fiber. 



An average fiber mill produces 75 tons a day. 



A modern pulp plant requires annually at least 6,000 cords of wood; a modern fiber plant at least 

 25,000 cords. 



The price of the product f. o. b. factory is, approximately :- 



For ground wood pulp 



For soda fiber 



For sulphite fiber 



>M5 per ton 

 •S'36 per ton 

 •v47 per ton 



