176 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



diagram shows that in Germany the height of beech and spruce is greater than in 

 Denmark, but that the average diameter of tho same species of trees in Denmark ex- 

 ceeds that of the trees in Germany. There were also shown models of heavy plows 

 For use on the waste lands before they are planted with trees, and a large harrow or 

 grubber which is worked in the Danish forests for breaking up ground under old trees 

 bo as to give seed self-sown a better chance of germinatiug and springing into life. 



SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



A very practical exhibit was sent. Hitherto the chief exportation of timber from 

 the Scandinavian peninsula to Great Britain has been in the shape of " deals." Planed 

 barrels of large size, plain moldings, herring barrels, and such like articles were shown 

 with the view of stimulating a demand for them in Scotland. Sweden and Norway 

 have long been known as one of the chief homes of the great pine and fir family. To 

 the Uuited Kingdom alone timber to the value of £3,300,000 is exported from Sweden, 

 and from Norway, £1,600,000; and large quantities are also sent to other countries. 

 In the matter of forest conservancy, neither in Norway nor Sweden has much been 

 done, and the woods have suffered in consequence. In Sweden a better feeling on 

 the subject is general, and Government and private enterprise are working together 

 to repair the damage to the splendid pine forests which has been caused by wasteful 

 methods of forestry. In Norway, forest regulations are resented as an interference 

 with popular rights, but here, also, common sense is prevailing over unreasoning 

 prejudice. 



WOOD-PULP PAPER-MAKING. 



From Germany, Norway and Sweden, France, and Denmark (private firms) came 

 interesting illustrations of a comparatively new but rapidly increasing industry — that 

 of making paper from wood. Ten years ago Germany went practically, and on a con- 

 siderable scale, into this business — stimulated by the great demand there was for cheap 

 paper, especially for newspapers, and it spread into Norway and Sweden and Den- 

 mark. In Germany there are said to be 60 wood-pulp mills in daily operation. In 

 Norway there are mills with 12,000 indicated horse-power, and in Sweden mills with 

 about 3,000 horse-power. The wood chiefly used in the process is pine wood, that 

 about 20 years of age being considered most suitable, as the fibers are not too brittle. 

 Aspen (Populus tremuUis) is also used. There are three methods of reducing the wood 

 to pulp. In two the initial processes are the same. Cut transversely by machinery 

 into small pieces, after having been barked— or it would be more correct to say thin 

 slices — the wood is boiled in water under high pressure. In one process, known as 

 the "soda process," it is afterwards treated likewise under great heat, with caustic 

 soda, which leaves it a pure cellulose mass. This mass is subsequently washed and 

 passed through an ordinary u breaker," then over a machine with an endless sieve or 

 felt, from which it issues as a roll, or what is known in commerce as wood-pulp. In 

 the other process, known as the "acid process," the wood is treated with sulphuric 

 acid instead of caustic soda. In color, the "wood-pulp" is light gray, and when dry 

 it is of great tenacity. By the soda process, 2 to 2i tons of wood are required for 

 one ton of pulp, which is quoted in London or Leith at £17 the ton. Considerable 

 controversy exists as to the merits of the two processes, but the respective pulps 

 sell at about the same price, and, except by very experienced paper-makers, could 

 not be distinguished. The other process is known as the " mechanical process," the 

 wood being simply ground — practically iu water — into minute fibers aud partially 

 dried in the usual manner. A very excellent model of a wood-grinding mill was shown 

 by Mr. Carl Christensen, one of the Norwegian exhibitors. All the wood-pulp mills 

 in Norway are driven by water, which greatly cheapens the cost of production. In 

 this model the logs are brought ina" lade " up to the saws and cut into pieces vary- 

 ing from a foot to two feet in length. These pieces are in turn barked and split by 

 machinery, and passed on to have the knots bored out and the pith removed. Up- 

 right griuding-stones are kept revolving in water or, at all events, are kept drenched 

 with water, and against these stones the wood is held by a hydraulic piston, which 

 can be adjusted so as to produce long or short fiber. Open pipes carry the water with 

 the fiber in suspension — the mass resembling a cloudy stream — onto the knottera or 

 sieves, which check the passage of unground chips, while the strained material is 

 carried onto an ordinary paper-making machine with an endless web or fine sieve, 

 whence it issues in the shape of large sheets. These, under hydraulic pressure, have 

 5u per cent, of the water squeezed out of them, and the pulp thus manufactured is 

 ready for sale, the price per wet ton in London being £3 10s. Mechanical pulp is 

 very brittle, and requires the admixture of more cellulose material before it can be 

 worked up into paper. Wood-pulp now forms a large part of the raw material of 

 the British paper-maker, who uses it especially in the manufacture of cheap paper 

 lor newspapers. It was only under the severe pressure of foreign competition that 



