245 



THE CUTTING OF TIMBER FOR PULP WOOD. 



The conditions which obtain in the area covered by the Adirondack Park 

 of the State of New York, in so far as the forest itself is concerned, are analogous 

 to those in the wooded parts of Ontario, and the following extracts from the re] 

 of the New York Forest Commission for 1891, relating to the wood-pulp industry, 

 the tendency to a natural regeneration of the forest under favorable circumstaii' 

 etc , are interesting in view of what is going on in our own Provinc 



' The manufacture of paper from wood is a comparatively new industry in 

 this country. Its rapid development and the consequent increase in the consump- 

 tion of valuable forest products demands the attention of everyone interested in 

 American forestry. The introduction of wood pulp was regarded with satisfaction 

 by students of the forestry question, because they saw in it.- u^e a market for c 

 tain small-sized timber, the sale of which is necessary to an econom' cry 



management. The successful pecuniary results obtained in the m,- ient of 



European forests are due largely to the fact that there is a market for everything 



t is left after cutting the large-sized timber ; and so the advent of I 

 pulp industry encouraged our forestry people to believe that operations in i\\ 

 lucatioii could now be carried on. as the sale of the thinnings would cover the 

 expense. 



"But the consumption of timber by the pulp mills has rapidly 



to endanger, instead of promote, the welfare of our forests, hi the last ei. 

 years the amount of timber used for this purpose has increased 500 per cent. 

 In the year just passed, 1891, the timber cut for wood pulp in the Great IV 

 of Northern New York, was equal to one-third the amount cut by the lumb 



"It is not the increased consumption of this forest product :hat is so noti 

 e, but the fact that the entire amount consumed is taken from young tr 

 Only a small amount" of pulp timber can be gathered from the limbs and tops 

 by lumbering operations. Spruce and balsams furnish the main supp! 

 owing to their excuri'ent o'rowth. only the tree trunks of these -varieties are 

 available. 



"The pulp mills 011 the eastern side of the Great Forest use thnb 

 diameter runs from fourteen down to six inches. On i st side, the mills on 



the Black River use woo-! with r as low as three inches. Fr 



-een that the introductioi d-pulp, while it might 1 



in economic forestry under p ement and restrictions, now < 



speedy extinction of the conifers. 



" The mills on the Upper Hudson use poplar to an /-rive 



cent, and spruce for the balance; but the proportion of po] 

 less eacl. year. The mills on the Black liiyer use spr !.-;uu, poplar : 



some small second-growth pine, Hemlock is used to soi b, when 



with other kinds of wood. In making cliemkal libro, however, the sub .ills 



ean use one-third hemlock. Tamarac is also used in 5, but il 



a -^-.'he-coloured woo ! makes a d;irk, although strong paper. No - 



used, nor any hardwood. On the Hudson the pulp timber is cut in th 

 length as logs, an 1 is fixated down tie -jtrei'.ns with the log drives. It is 

 thirteen feet long, and is sent to thr mill wit;i the 1 >n. The most of the 



pulp timber for the Black River mills comes from St. Lawrence and Lewi- 

 counties, where it is cut into four foot lengths, measured, ami sold by the c 

 and shipped then over the Carthage and Adirondack Railroad. A lar ion 



