886 



Canadian Forestry Journal, December, ipi6 



is known as the 'Lefebvre system,' and 

 is the invention of Henry Lefebvre, of 

 this city. Paper manufactured by this 

 system in the mills of the St. Regis 

 Paper Company near here was used by 

 the Watertown Standard to-day in the 

 first practical test. 



"The system consists of washing the 

 ground wood fibres as they come from 

 the grinders with pure water into even 

 lengths ready to be made into paper, 

 thus making the use of sulphite un- 

 necessary, sulphite being one of the 

 most expensive items of paper manu- 

 factured to-day. 



"Paper experts claim that the paper 

 is of a better grade than that now 

 used, and that a cheaper grade of ink 

 can be used with equal results. The 

 inventor says that this system of manu- 

 facture will reduce the cost of manu- 

 facturing one-half by abolishing the use 

 of sulphite and doing away with much 

 of the labor entailed thereby. Mr. 

 Lefebvre was offered $250,000 for his 

 invention, by the International Paper 

 Company, which he refused." 



To which the Pulp and Paper Maga- 

 zine of Montreal adds : 



"Ever since paper-making com- 

 menced on this continent experiments 

 have been made to have ground-wood 

 fill the bill without any aid from sul- 

 phite, but it has never been found to 

 have strength enough, or flexibility en- 

 ough to adapt itself to the modern high 

 speed news machines. It is a well- 

 known fact that there are hundreds of 

 experiments made in our laboratories, 

 but only one out of several hundred 

 will have an economic value. 



"Europe has been working on this 

 scheme for years, and up to the present 

 time all our improvements in connec- 

 tion with fibres have come from that 

 continent. They manufacture one mil- 

 lion tons of fibre per year, and have 

 never spared any expense either in fac- 

 tory or laboratory to devise schemes 

 which would lessen the cost of their an- 

 nual output. With all due respect to 

 the inventor at Watertown, it looks 

 very much as if his much advertised 

 find was not of a practical nature." ' 



Effect of Forests on Stream Flow 



Experience has proved that the for- 

 est works efficaciously against many 

 dangers resulting from the elements let 

 loose, such as avalanches, falls of 

 stones, erosion, earthslides, inunda- 

 tions. These are facts admitted and 

 indisputable, but how and in what 

 measure does the forest exercise this 

 moderating action upon the destructive 

 power of water? How can it lessen 

 the destruction from inundations? It 

 is in order to attempt an answer to this 

 leading question that the Swiss Fede- 

 ral Station of Forest Research in 1900 

 installed an observing station in the 

 basin from which two streams of the 

 Bernese Emmental are fed. These 

 streams, tributaries of the Hornbach, 

 are located in the territory of the com- 

 mune of Summiswald-W^asen, on the 

 north-west slope of the Napf. The 

 geological formation is fissured pud- . 

 ding-stone which decomposes readily. 



One of the basins, with an extent of 

 140 acres, is completely wooded. The 

 other with an area of 175 acres has only 

 a small average of wooded district, 

 about 30 per cent.. The forest is com- 

 posed of spruce and of alder bushes 

 The measurement of the precipitation 

 rain and snow, takes place regularl 

 throughout the year. In each of th 

 basins there have been installed three 

 rain gauge stations at dififerent alti- 

 tudes. At the junction of the two 

 streams with the Hornbach certain ap- 

 paratus registers automatically every 

 five minutes day and night the volume 

 of the water flowing. 



The Research Station has: 1- In case 

 of storms accompanied with heavy 

 rains the maximum outflow in the 

 wooded valley is from 30 to 50 per cent, 

 less than that from the other valley, 

 and there is another beneficial circum- 

 stance from the action of the forest, 



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