PAPER PLANTS 



PAPER PLANTS 



509 



Sisal or Henequen (Agave rigida, var. elongaia and 

 var. Sisalana). Amaryllidacecs. Figs. 22, 399, 

 400. 

 These plants are cultivated in the West Indies, 

 Mexico, Yucatan, Central America and Venezuela. 

 The fibers are separated from the leaf by scraping. 

 The ultimate fibers are 1 to 6 mm. long, white, 

 lustrous and stiff. The material reaches the paper- 

 mill in the form of cordage and pld bagging and is 

 suitable for making strong wrapping paper. [See 

 Fiber plants.] 



Spruce (Pieea nigra, P. alba and P. rubra). Conif- 

 ercB. Fig. 731. [See Fig. 465.] 

 Spruce is particularly suitable for the produc- 

 tion of sulfite pulp made by cooking the wood with a 

 sulfite liquor, and is still the chief source of this 

 pulp. The bark is always removed before making 

 the wood into pulp. Spruce is native in Canada, 

 northern United States and in the mountains as far 

 south as North Carolina. It is also found in northern 

 Europe and Asia. The fibers are 1.5 to 2.5 mm. 

 long and .035 mm. in diameter. The yield of paper 

 is about 50 per cent. It is largely used in combina- 

 tion with other materials for making lithograph, 

 book and other printing papers, and for writing 

 papers. Unbleached, it is also largely used with other 

 materials for making wrapping paper. So-called 

 manilas often consist almost entirely of unbleached 

 spruce fiber. 



Straws of cereals. Graminem. 



Until the introduction of wood, rye- and wheat- 

 straws were largely used in the production of news- 

 paper material and other cheap printing paper. 

 Straw is still used in small quantities, even in high- 

 grade papers, to impart to them stiffness and hard- 

 ness, but is used chiefly for strawboard, which is 

 made in large quantities almost exclusively in the 

 Ohio valley. Barley-, rye-, wheat- and oat-straw 

 fibers are .1 to .5 mm. long and .0125 to .024 mm. 

 in diameter. Rice-straw fibers are .88 mm. long and 

 .0025 mm. in diameter. The yield of paper is about 

 42 per cent. Of strawboard the yield is about 

 80 per cent. Rice-straw is not used to any extent, 

 but experimental work indicates that it makes a 

 paper similar to that from other straws and that 

 it is just as suitable for the making of strawboard. 

 The high percentage of silica which it contains 

 (which reduces the quantity of soda recovered) 

 operates against its use for paper-making. Immense 

 quantities of straw are wasted annually. [See 

 articles on the cereal grains.] 



Sunn hemp •(OofaZariajMMcea). Leguminosce. Fig. 

 396. 

 This is cultivated for its fiber in India and the 

 Sunda islands. It is used chiefly in the form of old 

 rope and bagging for strong wrapping papers. The 

 fibers are 7 to 8 mm. long and .03 mm. in diameter. 

 [See Fiber plants.] 



Waste paper. 



In printing there is considerable waste of paper, 

 due to the tearing of the paper on the presses, to 



soiling, and to trimming and cutting to desired 

 sizes. Magazines, advertising matter, books and 

 newspapers, after serving their purpose, are col- 

 lected and returned to the paper-mill, to be again 

 used in making such kinds of paper as they may 

 be suitable for. The quantity of waste paper thus 

 used is very large and might well be much greater. 



Literature. 



Handbuch der Papierfabrication, Mierzmski,Wein, 

 1886 ; Manufacture of Paper, Davis, Philadelphia, 

 1886 ; Chemistry of Paper Making, Grifiin & Little, 













Fig. 731. Spruce timber, used for paper pulp. 



New York, 1894 ; Treatise on Paper Making, Hoff- 

 man, New York, 1895 ; Vegetable Fibers, Bulletin 

 of Miscellaneous Information, Additional Series III, 

 Royal Gardens, Kew, 1898 ; Paper Making, Cross & 

 Bevan, London, 1900 ; Industrial Organic Chem- 

 istry, Sadtler, Philadelphia, 1900 ; Die Rohstoffe 

 der Pflanzenreiches, Wiesner, Leipzig, 1900 ; The 

 Art of Paper Making, Watts, London, 1901; Papier 

 Priifung, Hertzberg, Berlin, 1902 ; Cellulose, Cross 

 & Bevan, London, 1903 ; Textile Fibers, Mathews, 



