2 BULLETIN 309^ U. S. DEPAKTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



try. In this country scarcely a month passes during which some 

 new wild plant or crop waste is not proposed as a certain and perma- 

 nent relief to the paper manufacturer from the stress resulting from 

 the rising cost of raw materials. 



The past 1,0 years have witnessed an enormous growth in the pulp 

 and paper industry and a keener realization of the fact that the present 

 wood supply of the United States can not indefinitely withstand the 

 demands placed upon it. About 80 per cent of the paper stock used 

 in this country is derived from wood. In 1900 about 2,000,000 cords 

 of wood were used for pulp manufacture, and the present use is ap- 

 proximately 4,500,000 cords a year. Pulp-wood imports in this 

 country increased from 650,000 cords at $4.20 per cord in 1907 to 

 1,036,000 cords at $6.60 in 1913. In 1903, 131,000 tons of wood pulp 

 were imported, as against 563,000 tons in 1913. 



In a report of the United States Forest Service in 1914 the annual 

 growth of wood in the United States is placed at 12 cubic feet per 

 acre per year, while there are being removed 36 cubic feet per acre 

 per year; in other words, as a nation, wood is being used three times 

 as fast as it grows. Without doubt imported wood will play an 

 important role in the paper industry of this country for many years 

 to come. 



New woods are in common use to-day which would not have been 

 considered a few years ago, and reforesting is being given very serious 

 attention, all of which goes to show a desire on the part of the pulp 

 manufacturer to husband his present source of supply or to secure 

 new sources. 



Since the demand for paper stock is gaining so rapidly upon the 

 supply it is very clear that the price of raw material will continue to 

 increase and in so doing will bring other raw materials into competi- 

 tion. It is for this reason that investigations of the adaptability of 

 fibrous plants and crop wastes should be carried on with some of the 

 more promising materials. 



The Office of Paper-Plant Investigations of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry has numerous materials under examination and proposes 

 from time to time, as the data obtained may warrant, to publish 

 the information which has been secured. The publication of these 

 data wiU not mean that the work with the material has been com- 

 pleted or that the conclusions reached are final. There is always a 

 possibility that further information and the devising of new and 

 better methods may result in taking a raw material from the class of 

 unpromising materials and placing it iii the class of promising 

 materials. 



The work with zacaton (Epicampes macroura Benth.) has pro- 

 gressed to a point where at least a preliminary publication of results 

 is desirable. 



