PHILIPPINE FIBERS AND FIBROUS SUBSTANCES. 235 



pulp, the cost of the raw material for 1 ton of finished pulp is seven dollars 

 and thirty cents. 



At the prices quoted above the manufacture of paper pulp for export seems 

 to be a practical commercial problem. A ton of unbleached bamboo pulp could 

 be produced for -about twenty-six dollars and seventy-six cents, including manu- 

 facturing costs, interest, and sundry charges. This cost supplemented by the 

 freight to England and sundry dues, would be increased to thirty-six dollars 

 and fifty cents, as the price delivered in London or Liverpool. Having regard 

 to the quality of the pulp, a higher price would be realized, since wood pulp is 

 valued at eight pounds to nine pounds sterling per ton (thirty-eight dollars and 

 ninety-three cents to forty-three dollars and eighty cents gold) . 



Acting upon SindalPs recommendation that a practical trial with bamboo on 

 a large scale would go far toward ultimately bringing his preliminary inquiry 

 to a successful issue, several tons of bamboo were shipped to the English paper 

 mill of Thomas & Green, at Woburn. near London, for a practical demonstration 

 of its paper-making qualities. 



This firm reported that the material worked exceedingly well on the machine 

 and produced a good sheet of strong paper suitable for special kinds of printing, 

 particularly for lithographic work. A portion of the bleached pulp was sent 

 to the North Ireland Paper Mill Company, whose manager reported as follows : 

 "We found no difficulty whatever in working the stuff. It was put through our 

 mill just the same as if we had been treating wood pulp, without any alterations 

 to the machinery being necessary. The paper thus made was submitted to 

 lithographic printers who reported that it took both letter-press and lithographic 

 work admirably." 



The bamboo was cooked with caustic soda of 15° Twaddell for seven hours 

 at 60 pounds pressure and bleached to a good white with 8 to 10 per cent of 

 bleaching powder. The complete results of this practical test were published in 

 a pamphlet on paper made from the bamboo. 



A. D. Little's opinion 4 of Sindall's booklet is of value in this connection. He 

 writes : "There appears to be no room for doubt that bamboo is one of the most 

 promising, if not in fact actually the most attractive of the new sources of 

 paper stock available at the present time." 



It would seem to me that the practical test quoted above is final and 

 conclusive for the species of bamboo selected and the process of manu- 

 facture employed, and that the last doubt of the most skeptical regarding 

 the intrinsic value and applicability of bamboo fiber for certain grades 

 of paper is entirely removed. 



Mr. RiattV investigations on bamboo have extended over a period of ten 

 years since 1897, during which time many fundamental questions regarding the 

 commercial use of the material have been thoroughly considered.' He writes: 5 

 "Among the fibrous products of our tropical and subtropical forests, none is more 

 likely to take a more leading place as a paper-making material than bamboo. 

 Its accessibility, being generally found within reach of waterways down which 

 it may be rafted; the size of the stems, giving a larger return per head per day 

 for the cutting and collecting force employed than in ease of the smaller annual 

 grasses ; the ease with which it yields to the same methods of treatment which 

 have been so successful with wood, together with its greater abundance, mark it 



4 The Paper Mill and Wood Pulp News (1910), 33, 37. 

 s Trop. Agr. (1909), 6, 32. 



