Part V.] Pearson: Note on the Utilization of Bamboo. 
l l 3 
PART III. 
THE COST OF MANUFACTURING BAMBOO PAPER PULP. 
1. General remarks. 
Points which required to be cleared up. —Up to the present day no 
firm has put up a mill in British India in which bamboos are utilized 
for manufacturing paper-pulp. It has been known, however, for many 
years that bamboos yield an excellent pulp, a point which has been re¬ 
peatedly demonstrated by various experts in the laboratory. It is 
thought that the reasons why no steps have been taken up to the present 
to utilize bamboos for paper-making on a commercial scale, are that (i) 
persons interested in this subject entertain doubts as to the possibility of 
obtaining a continuous supply of raw material, at a reasonable price, 
(ii) that, without definite information as to a suitable locality from 
which to exploit bamboos they are not prepared to take up the subject 
seriously, (in) that they cannot accept the figures of cost of manufac¬ 
ture based on data obtained in the laboratory only. 
In Part IV is given detailed information, for stated localities, of the 
possible annual outturn and cost of extraction of bamboos which, it is 
hoped, will definitely clear up these points ; in this Part of the report 
it is proposed to deal with the last point, i.e., cost of manufacture of 
bamboo-pulp. 
Arrangements made for testing bamboos on a commercial scale. —In 
order to obtain, not an estimated but an actual figure of cost of manu¬ 
facture, Messrs. F. W. Heilgers, Agents to the Titaghur Paper Mills, 
who were interested in this subject, addressed the Forest Research 
Institute in 1910, with a view to obtaining a large quantity of bamboos 
with which to carry out experiments on a commercial scale. The ques¬ 
tion of manufacturing pulp from bamboos being under enquiry by the 
Forest Economist at the time, an agreement was made with the firm to 
supply them with 20 tons of each of four different species of bamboo, 
on the understanding that the firm, in return * should give a report on the 
results obtained by them from their experiments. The results obtained 
by boiling the 80 tons of bamboos supplied to the firm will be dealt 
with hereafter. 
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