20 MISC. PUBLICATION 162, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



stronger and better grades coming from the three chemical processes. 

 Among the woods suitable for pulping are spruce, hemlock, southern 

 yellow pine, poplar, balsam, fir, jack pine, white fir, beech, birch, maple, 

 gum, and larch. 



The United States uses more paper than all the rest of the world. 

 In 1940 our consumption of paper products amounted to no less than 

 16^2 million tons, or 250 pounds for every man, woman, and child in the 

 country. This amount of paper was equivalent to more than 16 mil- 

 lion cords of pulpwood. 



The paper industry is distributed in 37 States. It was first estab- 

 lished in the Northeast, and is still an important industry in that 

 region. From there, however, the industry has spread to the Lake 

 States, the Central States, the Pacific coast, and in recent years 

 throughout the South, from Virginia to Texas. 



There are several reasons for this expansion of the pulp and paper 

 industry in the Southern States. For one thing the supply of Northern 

 pulping woods has been steadily diminishing. There has also been an 

 increased need for the heavy type of product known as kraft paper, for 

 which Southern pine pulp is extensively used. Southern pines can be 

 cheaply pulped, and the South has an available supply of cheap wood, 

 plenty of water, abundant labor, and an all-year working climate, all 

 of which are favorable to the extensive development of the industry. 



Another product of wood pulp is rayon, that soft silky textile which 

 in recent years has come into extensive use as a clothing material. It is 

 made from some form of plant cellulose, preferably cotton or wood, and 

 at present more than 60 percent of the rayon produced is said to come 

 from wood cellulose. In the manufacture of rayon the cellulose is 

 modified by various chemicals, which differ with the process employed, 

 and the thick sirupy solution resulting is forced through minute aper- 

 tures corresponding to the spinnerets of the silk worm. The fine 

 threads, or filaments, coming through these openings are coagulated 

 either in a fixing bath or by a process of evaporation, and several of 

 them formed simultaneously are twisted into the strand for spinning. 

 The annual production of rayon now amounts to about 730 million 

 pounds. 



From wood pulp also comes much of that widely used transparent 

 wrapping known as cellophane. Like paper and rayon it is a cellulose 

 product, and its manufacture is similar to that of rayon, except that 

 the viscous solution is forced through a narrow slot. 



Various other products are made by combining certain chemicals 

 with sawdust or wood flour. These are known as plastics and are gain- 

 ing in use daily. Fountain pens, telephone parts, radio and automo- 

 bile trimmings, combs, and a thousand other articles are being made 

 of plastics. 



After wood, the most important forest products are perhaps tur- 

 pentine and rosin. They are obtained by the distillation of the gum 

 that exudes from the longleaf and slash pines of the South. The gum 

 is drained from the trees and carried to a still, where it is cooked in 

 closed iron retorts. The turpentine is given off in the form of a vapor 

 which is collected and condensed in a condensing worm. The rosin is 

 the part of the gum left after the turpentine has been distilled off. 

 The name "naval stores" was originally given to these products because 

 for many years they were used chiefly in shipbuilding. Naval stores 



