98 NEW BRUNSWICK FORESTRY CONVENTION 



the microscopic appearance of the fibre under such conditions, and it will be 

 seen that, as might be expected, the violent action of the grinding process 

 has broken the cells of the wood to such an extent as to produce a short 

 fibre, although the process as a whole has been carried out so well that the 

 individual cells are well separated. It nevertheless 



GROUND WOOD FIBRE 



liappens that the cells ate not so completely separated in all C&S&8, for 

 nearly every specimen selected will show more or less numerous fibres com- 

 posed of two or more cells. With these facts before us, it is not difficult to 

 understand why ground wood fails to meet the requirements of a first class 

 paper in which toughness and strength are considerations of the first im- 

 portance. 



CHIPS FOR SULPHITE 

 'Returning once more to the barking room, we follow the second stream 



o o 



of blocks as they are carried to the chipping room, There each block is 

 pressed endwise against a revolving knife which removes coarse chips of the 

 character shown in the photograph. These are next carried by an air blast 

 through a 



REDUCING CHIPS 



fan, by which they are reduced to small dimensions and freed from all dust. 

 Thence by carrier they pass to the upper story of the Digester House 

 where they are sto~ad and from which they 



THE DIGESTERS 



are dropped into great iron tanks or digesters. Throe of these are employed, 

 and each has a capacity of ten tons. The digesters are great cylindrical 

 tanks supported on end, and made of heavy iron lined with sheet lead with 

 an interior lining of fire bricks this double lining being essential to prevent 

 the very rapid corrosion which would otherwise take place under the condi- 

 tions of high pressure and high temperature employed in the digesting pro- 

 cess. In order to understand the nature of the changes effected here, it will 

 be necessary to retrace our 



THE SULPHITE TOWEI; 



steps and visit the Sulphite Tower. This construction is a 'lofty mass of 

 pipes rising to a height of 160 feet, and as it towers above the hill upon 



