ilARCH 1907.] Ul Fibres. 



For half a century wood-pulp has met the rapidly increasing demand for 

 paper stock. However, we are now confronted with the fact that the supply of this 

 material will soon be exhausted, so that we are afforded a curious example of the 

 manner in which the development of an industry sometimes brings one back to the 

 conditions of the beginning, although the new point reached, owing to the persis- 

 tence of the scientific enquiry which was undertaken regardless of an utter lack of 

 apparent practical benefit, is on a much higher plane. 



Until wood-pulp had been proven to be suitable for paper stock, the world's 

 supply of fibrous material was divided between the textile and paper industries, one 

 being complementary to the other. Such vegetable fibres as cotton, hemp, jute, flax, 

 and abaca are eminently suited for the manufacture of paper, but their primary 

 value for textiles and cordage excluded their use in the raw state for paper and, 

 therefore, the paper makers obtained their material largely from the refuse of these 

 industries. Good cotton and linen rags have become the luxury in the paper-making 

 world. They are only indulged in now for making the best class of stationary, and 

 by fortunate coincidence, this is about the only use to which they can be put. At 

 first glance, wood might be considered too valuable for other purposes, but fortu- 

 nately, those varieties which find most favour for the makiug of paper pulp are 

 considered rather worthless for the many other uses for which wood is usually 

 employed; furthermore, the demands of the spinner and cordage maker need to be 

 considered. Twenty or twenty-five years ago statements " that there is not the 

 slightest ground for believing the supply of this raw material would ever fail " were 

 common in regard to wood as a material for paper making. The marvelous growth 

 of the paper industry of the last two decades was not then foreseen nor were the 

 many other uses for wood-pulp, which modern advances in the industrial world have 

 brought about, taken into account. 



P. H- Olutterbuck, referring to the numberless uses of wood-pulp, writes : * 

 " Printing paper alone eats an enormous hole in our natural forests yearly and 

 the future requirements can only be conjectured. The huge procession of railway 

 cars all over the country run, to some extent, on paper wheels ; carpenters are 

 begining to use boards of paper, handsomely veined, requiring no planing, twice as 

 durable as the Avoodeu variety and costing only half the money. The builder is 

 introducing paper bricks, showily enameled, which will not burn and possess many 

 advantages over those of clay. The ship-builder introduces masts and spars of the 

 same substance, which is likewise used for telegraph and telephone and flagstaffs. 

 These are not fanciful experiments but serious procedures, justified by superior 

 durability of the articles so produced. This same quality is claimed for the paper 

 horse shoe recently invented and so extensively used." 



Already, paper manufacturers in the United States are looking for new 

 sources of supply for raw material. A recent report of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculturet recommends that investigations be made on the suitability of 

 new iuav materials for paper and paper pulp. 



" Our well-known pulp woods are being used up faster than they are growing 

 and as a consequence the demand for new material has led to efforts to utilize many 

 waste products among which bagasse or sugarcane refuse, cornstalks, southern pine 

 waste, rice straw, and hemp stalks present exceeding promising fields." 



The United States Government recently has established a laboratory at 

 Washington for investigations along these lines, and this fact emphasizes the im- 

 portance which the question is assuming. 



* P. H Cluttetbuck : Indian Forester (1899), 25,231. 



■jU S, Department Agrl, ! The Repot t o/' the Chemist (1901). 



