Per. 1907.] 



93 



Timbers. 



Sawdust has also been experimented with for the purpose of producing 

 chemical fibre, but owing to the difficulties oi' getting the solven liquor to circulate 

 readily through it, and other troublesome features it has been found to be impracticable. 

 Shavings are the more suitable for converting into wood fibre, and are employed 

 by some, although their bulkiness prevents any substantial weight being dealt with 

 in each boiling operation. They might, however, be more conveniently used if they 

 were first put through some form of machine similar to a hay-cutting mill, and 

 reduced to small lengths. 



Like ordinary lumber, the logs employed for pulp-making are generally 

 cut by gangs of woodmen, Avho camp out in the forest during the winter months. 

 In the early spring, when the snow and ice begin to melt, the logs are easily 

 conveyed to the banks of the river, which, being at this time naturally swollen 

 carries them down to their distination. The log-driving men's duty is to keep 

 them off the banks, and clear of obstacles, until they reach the saw or pulp mill, 

 where booms, consisting of a number of logs chained together endwise, are 

 stretched across the river to prevent them from being drifted any further. By 

 this means millions of feet of logs are annually brought from the centre of the 

 forests down to the mills. The result of being in the snow and water, and the 

 friction in driving, is such that the logs generally arrive at the mill with the 

 bark entirely removed. 



In Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, Austria, and Germany possess the largest 

 wood pulp forests, which, in the former countries, are the natural virgin growth, 

 and still very extensive, in spite of the enormous quantity cut. In Germany the 

 original natural forests have been almost exhausted, but owing to the wisdom and 

 foresight of the authorities, they have been replanted and grown under Govern- 

 ment supervision. Undoubtedly the American Continent has the largest supply 

 of pulp wood, but even the extensive forests of the Adirondacks and similar 

 districts round the large paper-making centres are rapidly becoming depleted by 

 the pulp manufacturers. The State of Maine and other New England States have 

 still enormous quantities of uncut pulp wood, but unless measures are taken to 

 preserve and cultivate them, the present rate of cutting cannot be indefinitely 

 continued. The immense virgin forests of pulp wood in Canada and Newfoundland 

 are practically untouched at present, but the day is not far distant when great 

 demands will be made upon these forests. 



Pulp wood is generally bought by measurement ; the fact that the amount 

 of water contained in the wood varies so considerably prevents any method of 

 dealing with it by weight. The method of measuring timber is also very trouble, 

 some and unsatisfactory, more especially by the tape or quarter-girt system- 

 Measuring in fathom frames is costly work, and, like pile measuiement, varies 

 according to the skill or otherwise of those piling the logs. In America, wood is 

 generally bought by the cord, which equals 128 cubic feet pile measurement. In 

 Great Britain and Scandinavia it is usually bought by the fathom, which is a 

 cubic pile of logs 6 feet long, and piled 6 feet high, containing 216 cubic feet. In 

 many of the Continental countries it is purchased and sold at so much per 

 cubic metre. 



The appellation, wood pulp, includes two distinct varieties having different 

 chemical compositions and properties. These are known in commerce as mechanical 

 or ground wood pulp, and chemical wood fibre or wood celulose. The former is 

 simply wood ground, washed, and made into layers or sheets ; while the latter, 

 or chemical wood pulp, is produced by treating the wood with various chemicals 

 to remove the ligneous and mineral compounds, leaving the soft, pliable cellulose 

 fibres almost pure. Of the chemical pulps, there are also several varieties, named 



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