Dec. 1, 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
385 
from the forests the younger and smaller trees were 
left, but now that the wood-pulp man has appeared 
no trees escape, as he utilizes all the tiees left by 
the lumber man. 
The Nevi York Tribune, referring to the numberless 
uses of wood-pulp ana the inroads caused on the 
United States' Forests say : 
•' Printing paper alone eats an enormous hole in 
our uatioua! forests yearly, and the future extent of 
that requirement 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 plauiug, twice as durable as the wooden 
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 burnt clay. The ship-builder introduces masts 
and spars of the same substance, which is likewise 
used for telegraph and telephone poles and fliigstaffs. 
These are not fanciful experiments but serious busi- 
ness procedures, justiiied by the superior durability 
of the articles so produced. The same quality is 
claimed for the paper horseshoe recently invented 
and now extensively used. An enumeration of the 
purposes for which this surprising protoplasm 
has come to be employed w'ould stretch into a 
catalogue and new ones seem to be discovered every 
day." 
Verily we are approaching the day referred to in 
the chorus of the old song. 
' Paper hats, paper coats, paper boots and shoes. 
Patent paper, sailing ships and patent paper crews. 
Oq the paper market there'll be a paper strain, 
And every one, both young and old, will have paper 
on the brain.' 
The chief wood used for pulp is spruce but silver 
fir is used in the Vosges mountains. Poplars, wliich 
have a short fibre, are also used but more especially 
for mixing with spruce pulps to give the paper a 
more even surface. Of spruce there is an unlimited 
supply in the N -W. Himalayas, from the Bhagirati 
to Afghanistan, also in Sikkim and Bhutun. It 
grows chiefly on Northern and Western slopes be- 
tween 7,000 and 11,000 feet. The species is of 
course Abies Smithiana, very closely allied to the 
common European spruce, A. txcelsa. It attains a 
maximum height of some 225 feet, and a girth up 
to 10 feet. The wood is white like that of A. exeelsa 
and weighs about the same viz, 32 lb. per cubic ft. 
on the average. 
In the Jaunsar Division alone there is a huge 
stock of magnificent trees, which is unsaleable at 
present as there is no demand for it. So much so is 
this the case that wherever it happens to be found 
growing near deodar, it is ruthlessly killed by gird- 
ling and allowed to rot, so as to favour the valuable 
deodar. I roughly estimate that from this Division, 
were the spruce put under systematic management, 
an annual outturn of 1,50,00,000 cubic feet, or about 
5,70,000 maunds, equal to about 21,000 tons by weight, 
could be obtained. If a large quantity like this were 
- exported it is probable that it would pay the Forest 
Department to sell the wood at Dagpathar on the 
Jumna for about eleven annas a maund. 
Wood ground mechanically yields, I believe, one- 
third of its weight in pulp (dry) and this the paper 
mills would, it is supposed, willingly purchase for 
at least K3 per maund delivered on the railway, as 
their agents in the bazaars are now scouring the 
country for old pieces of paper of all kinds which 
have to be sorted, washed and bleached before being 
of any use. For this the agents give R2 per maund 
and they must get a good commission for all their 
trouble. 
Fifty-seven thousand maunds of spruce would yield 
Bome 1,90,000 maunds per annum, or 633 maunds per 
diem (taking 300 working days=one year) of me- 
chanically-ground pulp and thia should sell for 
R5,70,000. 
There is not likely to be any difficulty in dispos- 
ing of this quantity as tlje demand for paper in 
this country is steadily on the increase, more or less 
in proportion to the spread of education and trade, 
liloreover, if good raw material were readily obtain- 
able by the paper mills they would not be so keen 
on making arrangements, throughout India, to collect 
all the waste paper, however inferior its quality 
may be. 
The probable annual receipts and expenditure for 
such an outturn would be as foUovi's : — 
Receipts. 
E. 
By sale of 1,90,000 maunds of pulp, delivered at 
Dehra Dun Railway Station R3 permaund 5,70,000 
Expenditure. 
Purchase of 5,70,000 mds. of spruce @ 11 annas 
per maund 
Wear and tear of machinery and buildings 
10 % on Rl, 50,000 
Manager's pay @, R800 per month 
Mechanical Engineer's @ R-t50 per month... 
3 Foremen @ R50 each per mouth 
3 Do 1^ R30 each per month ... 
60 Workmen @ EG each per month 
Carting 1,90,000 maunds of pulp to Eailway 
at 8 Annas per maund per 26 miles 
Miscellaneous charges 
Pofit on capital of E5,00,O0O, i.e. 20 % 
per annum 
R. 
3,91,875 
15,000 
9,600 
5,400 
1,800 
1,080 
4,320 
35,625 
5,300 
1,00,000 
E. . . 5,70,000 
The Capital required would 
be as follows .■ — 
Cost of Machinery ... R. 80,000) 
Setting up, loading water [• R, 1,50,000 
and erection of buildings R. 70,000) 
Working Capital ... ... ... R. 3,50,000 
Total 
R. 5,00,000 
This is the prospect which seems to await any 
capitalist enterprising enough to take up the busi- 
ness ; and, if mechanicilly-ground pulp is able to 
give such a profit, what would the profit be on 
chemically-prepared wood fibre for paper and cloth 7 
For, although it is somewhat more expensive to 
manufacture, the yield is as much as 60 to 66 per 
cent, of the weight of the wood against 33 per cent, 
of mechanically-ground pulp. Doubtless Government 
would be prepared to meet any capitalist willing to 
start the business, with an agreement to give him 
the first refusal via Dagpathar, at a certain rate 
for a certain numbers of years, as well as to lend 
him a plot of land for hia factory with a right to 
lead water from the river to propel the machinery, 
so that he could make his own calculation as to 
whether it would pay him or not. Government at 
the same time would benefit by the opening out of 
a market for spruce, for which there is now no demand. 
There should be no difficulty in getting water 
power sufficient to drive all the machinery required 
for the factory as, I belive, the fall of the Tons 
river at the foot of the hills is about 45 feet per 
mile. Should a market for spruce be in this way 
developed, it would most probably pay the Forest 
Department to grow spruce on a rotation of 30 or 
40 years. 
The Canadian pulp factories have bought up large 
areas of forest land which I am informed theyar« 
treating on a 20 year rotation, but then the growth 
of American spruces, especially the Douglas sprnce, 
is very rapid ; vide the table published in " Th<i 
Indian Forester" for Blay 1899. 
The trees in the plantation of spruce near Deoban 
in the Jaunsar Division made in 1874, when the 
plants were put out at one year old, now average 
20 feet in height and 46 inches in diameter; but 
the plantation is not densely stocked and the locality 
is one with an Eastern aspect, while spruce doea 
not apparently grow thereabouts naturally. Sg i( 
