HYDROLOGY OF NEW YORK 



869 



too resinous, may be used, although the woods chiefly used are 

 spruce, hemlock and balsam. About two cords of wood are 

 required for one ton of the sulphite pulp. 



Newspaper and common wrapping papers consist chiefly of 

 mechanical pulp, with from 10 per cent to 25 per cent of sulphite 

 pulp added to hold the stock together. One class of strong wrap- 

 ping paper is made entirely of sulphite pulp. 



Soda fibre is used as soft stock in book and writing papers. 

 It came into use earlier than sulphite fiber, but owing to the 

 greater cheapness of the sulphite process, and the superior 

 strength of the fiber, the use of the latter has increased more 

 rapidly than the soda. 



In order to show the comparatively recent development of the 

 paper. industry, it may be mentioned that mechanical pulp was 

 invented in Germany in 1844, but was not made in this country 

 until 1867. It, however, reached no commercial importance any- 

 where until considerably later than 1867. There were in the 

 United States, in 1900, 168 mills in operation, of which 81 were 

 in New York. 



The soda process was introduced into this country from 

 Europe in 1854. The number of mills in the United States in 

 1900 was 36, of which 2 w r ere in New York. 



The sulphite process is an American invention, used at Prov- 

 idence in 1884. The number of mills in operation in the United 

 States in 1900 was 69, of which 17 were in New York. 



Modern paper making began with the introduction early in 

 the nineteenth century of the Fourdrinier machine, which was a 

 development of an invention made by Louis Roberts, of Essonne, 

 France, about 1798. Paper was made mostly from rags, which 

 continued to be the materials used until past the middle of the 

 nineteenth century, when wood fibre was introduced. The use 

 of rags for making newspaper has been largely superseded by 

 wood. 



Paper making, however, is an ancient art, probably originat- 

 ing in China as early as 150 A. D. Several centuries later, the 

 Arabs learned the art of paper making from the Chinese, who 

 in turn introduced the art into western Europe. Paper was 



