26 FOREST PRODUCTS 



importance as a pulpwood. Papermakers aver that pulp which contains 

 a large admixture of balsam fir lacks strength and character. 



Pine is being used more and more from year to year and is being 

 reduced chiefly by the soda and the sulphate processes, especially southern 

 yellow pine. In the statistical reports, pine includes principally southern 

 yellow pine but nearly one-half is composed of jack pine. White pine 

 is used to a small extent. 



White fir is rapidly coming into common use in the West. This and 

 other firs, together with large quantities of spruce and hemlock, which are 

 available on the northern Pacific coast, will tend to make that region a 

 great center of the future pulp and paper industry. In 1916 more than 

 49,000 cords of white fir were used for paper pulp. 



Some hardwoods like beech, maple, chestnut and cottonwood are also 

 used to some extent. They are largely reduced by the soda process. 

 Large quantities are derived from the residue of chestnut pulp after the 

 tannin has been removed at tannin extract plants in the South, notably 

 at Canton, N. C. 



Douglas fir is being used in the northern Pacific coast to some extent, 

 but it is more or less in the experimental stage of development. 



Other woods used for pulp are tamarack, elm, basswood, birch, gum, 

 sycamore, cucumber and ash. 



Altogether there is a strong undercurrent of desire among manu- 

 facturers to experiment in the use of new woods. Spruce has risen so 

 high in price that pulpmakers are generally looking for other sources of 

 raw material and are developing processes which will be applicable to 

 our most abundant kinds of woods, such as southern yellow pine, 

 Douglas fir, western hemlock, redwood, western spruce, cedar and 

 various hardwoods. It is estimated that there is a sufficient amount of 

 sawmill waste that is burned up, or which serves no profitable or 

 economical purpose, to meet all the demands for pulpwood. Upwards 

 of 200,000 cords of sawmill waste in the form of slabs, edgings, etc., 

 are now being utilized in pulpmaking. In Wisconsin especially, large 

 quantities of hemlock waste from sawmills are converted into pulp. 



The following table ^ shows the quantity of wood consumed by kinds 

 for 1916, 191 1, and 1909. 



Consumption by States. 



The wood pulp industry is centralized largely in the northeast. Many 

 new mills have recently been erected over the Canadian line in the lower 

 1 Taken from statistical reports of U. S. Forest Service and U. S. Census Bureau. 



