THE WORK OF THE FOREST DEPARTMENT IN INDIA. 51 



printed on pure bamboo paper, giving figures of outturn, cost of 

 extraction, suitable localities in which to erect factories, cost of 

 manufacture and the results obtained based on tests carried out 

 on a commercial scale. 



The elephant grasses, found in certain localities of India and 

 Burma, afford material nearly as promising for the manufacture 

 •of pulp as that yielded by bamboos. According to Mr. W. 

 Raitt, the cellulose expert, those grasses which yield the best 

 pulp are, in order (1) Anthistiria gigantea, including the two 

 sub-species A. arundinacea and A. villosa, (2) Phragmites 

 Karka, (3) ^accharum Munja, (4) Saccharum arundinaceum 

 and Saccharum Narenga bracketted, (5) Saccharum spontaneum 

 and (6) A rundo D.onax. Recently experiments on a commercial 

 scale were made with Saccharum spontaneum and Saccharum 

 Narenga grasses obtained from Assam, resulting in the manu- 

 facture of several tons of paper prepared from each species; 

 both species gave good results, the former especially making up 

 into a very fair grade of paper. The possible outturn of these 

 grasses is very large, especially from Assam, Bengal, the United 

 t'rovinces and Burma, while the cost of extraction is moderate. 

 A note on the laboratory experiments carried out by Mr. Raitt, 

 with a preface by Mr. R. S. Hole, the Forest Botanist, gives 

 valuable information as to the possibilities of elephant grasses 

 for the manufacture of paper pulp. > 



The enormous available supplies of bamboos and elephant 

 grasses could therefore be utilized for the manufacture of the 

 50,000 tons of paper and paste boards which India now imports 

 annually. It is true that neither bamboo nor grass pulp 

 could be made to meet all requirements, since certain classes of 

 paper cannot be made from these raw materials; nevertheless, 

 looking to the figures of cost of manufacturing bamboo and 

 elephant grass pulps, there is no doubt that a large proportion 

 of Indian requirements could be met from this class of pulp. 

 Again, the commercial prosperity and the diffusion of educa- 

 tion in India justify the belief that the requirements for paper 

 will rapidly increase in the near future. Moreover everything 

 points to the future possibility of exporting pulp from India, 

 ibut to the East rather than to the West. 



