90 OP WOOD IN GENERAL 



SmitUdna, the Himalayan Spruce, is in common use in India ; but 

 for tea-chests, though Chir {Pinus longifoUa), Chatwan (Alstonia 

 scholdris), Chaplash [Artocdrpus Ghapldsha), Toon {Oedrela Toona), 

 Shembal (Bombax malabdricum), and Maples, such as Acer Gamp- 

 bellii in the north-east, and A. pictum in the north-west, are 

 employed, there is an inadequate supply of suitable native wood, 

 which is being met by the importation of Birch veneers from 

 Russia. 



Crates, etc. — Ash, Alder, and Birch are largely used in the 

 making of crates ; and few persons probably, outside the trade, 

 notice the variety of woods, in addition to Willow, which go to the 

 making of our baskets. Enormous quantities of the Pine timber 

 of Sweden {Pinus sylvestris) are consumed in the form of luoifer 

 matches ; while wood-shavings and wood-wool, as it is called, much 

 used in packing, are little more than bye-products in the conversion 

 of timber for other purposes. 



Paper-pulp. — The manufacture of wood-pulp for paper, an 

 industry belonging almost entirely to the last twenty-five years, has 

 grown to such dimensions as to seriously aifect the question of our 

 timber supplies. It is carried on mainly in Scandinavia, Germany, 

 the United States, and Canada. The Poplars, Alders, Buckeyes, 

 and Spruces are the most suitable woods for this manufacture ; but 

 the coarser kinds of printing paper, packing paper, and paste-board 

 are made from Pine, even the branches and chips, formerly wasted, 

 being utilized. The refuse of Juniperus virginidna from the pencil 

 factories yields a paper useful for underlaying carpets or wrapping 

 articles liable to be injured by moth. Two methods are followed, 

 the mechanical, yielding a granular inferior product, and the 

 chemical. Of this last there are two principal modifications — viz., 

 the soda or alkaHne process, and the sulphite or acid process, accord- 

 ing as the reagent employed is caustic soda or bisulphite of lime, 

 The former produces softer, the latter harder and more transparent, 

 paper. Cellulose, prepared by these chemical processes from 

 coniferous wood, is also manufactured in Germany into an infinite 

 variety of articles. As an illustration of the growth of the wood- 

 pulp industry it may be stated that in 1891 the product of Norway 

 was valued at 8,600,000 kronor (about £430,000), and that of 

 Sweden at 10,400,000 kronor (£520,000), whilst in 1900 they were 

 27,400,000 and 33,200,000 kronor respectively. In 1892 there were 

 already 600 paper-pulp factories in Germany and 200 in Austria- 

 Hungary ; by 1900 the value of the industry in Canada was esti- 

 mated at 6|- millions sterling ; and in the following year Dr. Schhch 

 calculated that Norway was producing 1,400,000 tons a year, 

 Canada 1,200,000, and Sweden 1,000,000, tons. British imports 



