494 USES OF WOOD PULP. 



CHRISTIANIA. 



While Norway annually produces large quantities of wood pulp, 

 the article itself is used only in a limited degree in manufacture, 

 except in paper and pasteboard. To some extent, it is used in 

 making picture frames and a few fancy articles; but the industry is 

 so little developed that a closer investigation of the methods here 

 used would be of no practical value. A factory where the pulp 

 was compressed and made into pails, tubs, and other hollow ware was 

 started near Christiania a couple of years ago, but the enterprise 

 did not pay, and the undertaking was consequently abandoned. 



I shall have to limit my report to a statement of the manner in 

 which the article is produced. 



The manufacture of wood pulp in Norway is of comparatively 

 recent growth, but its development has been quite unique in rapidity. 

 It has become one of the country's most important export indus- 

 tries. Owing to its extensive forests and great water power, Nor- 

 way is peculiarly well adapted for this industry. The wood fiber 

 is prepared either mechanically or chemically. The mechanical 

 pulp is produced by grinding logs against great grindstones made of 

 sandstone, with a liberal supply of water. The chemical pulp is pro- 

 duced by cutting the wood into quite small pieces, which are boiled 

 in large caldrons together with different chemical substances, by 

 which means the resin contained in the wood is discharged. After- 

 wards, the pulp is set free from these chemical substances by passing 

 through a washing process. The chemical substances used for the 

 boiling are either sulphuric salts, by which sulphite cellulose is 

 obtained, or compounds of soda, such as hydrate of soda, carbonate 

 of soda, etc., by which sulphate cellulose is obtained. In Norway, 

 the sulphite cellulose is mostly produced. 



At the end of 1890, the following establishments were in opera- 

 tion: Eleven cellulose factories, with 1,516 men employed; 2 facto- 

 ries combining cellulose with paper and pasteboard works, with 317 

 men employed; 47 wood-pulp factories, with 2,045 men employed; 

 and 4 factories of wood pulp combined with paper and pasteboard 

 works, with 736 workmen. These numbers are given in the Statis- 

 tical Yearbook for Norway for the year 1897, which gives the last 

 official information on the subject obtainable. The number of man- 

 ufactories is now, however, much greater. While the exports in 

 1870 amounted to only $21,600, they have during the last five years 

 been as follows: 



