THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



(57 



New Paper Stock. — To make the paper for a sing-le 

 issue of the large daily newspaper, the pulp made from the 

 timber in four or five acres of woodland is required. W hen all 

 the books and papers printed on wood pulp paper are considered 

 the enormous daily consumption of our forests becomes ap- 

 parent. This demand for wood is also constantly increasing-. 

 The favorite wood of the paper-maker at present is spruce, but 

 the waning supply of this wood has caused the manufacturers 

 to look about for other woods that will take its place. One of 

 the promising sources of wood pulp in the future seems to 

 exist in trees of the national forests that are of little use for 

 timber. The principal problem at present is to economically 

 work up such stock. The investigation of the subject is being 

 carried on at the Government laboratory at Wausau, W^is- 

 consin. 



Soap From Plants. — That many plants, or plant parts, 

 will form a lather when rubbed up in water has long been 

 known but only recently has this fact taken on much commer- 

 cial importance though soap bark has for many years formed 

 part of the druggist's stock in trade. According to Science, the 

 settlers in Western Kansas are now cutting the yucca (F. hac- 

 cata), known locally as Spanish bayonet and soap-weed, for 

 sale to the soap makers. The plants when dried and baled bring- 

 about eight dollars a ton delivered to the railway and it is said 

 an energetic man can make fair wages at the business. The 

 plants are used in making toilet soaps for which purpose they 

 are said tO' be especially valuable since they contain no alkali. 



Changing Values in Botany. — It was Linnaeus "the 

 Father of Botany" who declared that the only worthy task of 

 a botanist was to know by name as many species of the vege- 

 table kingdom as possible, but the world has moved a long- 

 distance forward since his day. In the beginning, any science 

 must deal largely with classification and description, but such 

 work is merely a means to an end. In order to deal further 



