250 



closure of stomata during this process being as much a result of 

 the wilting as the flaccidity of the other cells of the leaf. We 

 must therefore give up for the present the long cherished notion 

 that stomata are delicate valves opening and closing rapidly to 

 modify the rate of transpiration as the needs of the plant indicate." 



An interesting article on the manufacture and consumption of 

 pulp wood * is given in Science for July 24 : " The advance state- 

 ment is made from the statistics collected by the Census Bureau 

 in cooperation with the United States Forest Service. Many of 

 the figures bring out interesting facts which show the rapid 

 growth of the paper-making and allied industries during the last 

 decade. Nearly four million cords of wood, in exact numbers 

 3,962,660 cords, were used in the United States in the manufac- 

 ture of paper pulp last year," and over "two and one half mil- 

 lion tons of pulp were produced. The pulp mills used 300,000 

 more cords of wood in 1907 than in the previous year. The 

 amount of spruce used was 6"^ per cent, of the total consump- 

 tion of pulp wood, or 2,700,000 cords. The increased price of 

 spruce has turned the attention of paper manufacturers to a 

 number of other woods, hemlock ranking next, with 576,000 

 cords, or 14 per cent, of the total consumption. More than 9 

 per cent, was poplar, and the remainder consisted of relatively 

 small amounts of pine, cottonwood, balsam and other woods. 

 There was a marked increase last year in the importation of 

 spruce, which has always been the most popular wood for pulp. 

 For a number of years pulp manufacturers of this country have 

 been heavily importing spruce from Canada, since the available 

 supply of this wood in the north-central and New England States. 



* According to the New York Tribune for September 18, the Congressional com- 

 mittee appointed to investigate conditions in the paper mill and pulp industry reports 

 plenty of pulp wood in the Middle West. One of the most important witnesses inter- 

 viewed was William S. Taylor, president of the Pulp Wood Supply Company of 

 Appleton, which organization furnishes pulp wood for twelve of the paper mills in 

 the Fox River Valley; he stated that "his company buys about 225,000 cords of 

 pulp wood annually, about 50 per cent, being spruce, most of which is purchased in 

 Minnesota, and about 50 per cent, being hemlock, all of which is purchased in Wis- 

 consin." Mr. Taylor is confident that " neither the present nor the coming generation 

 need have any worry about the supply of pulp in the Middle West, for there are mill- 

 ions upon millions of feet available.". 



