33 
Part III.] Raitt : Bamboo as Material for Paper-pul'p. 
and high cost of bleaching, can all be overcome by the adoption of the 
following treatment:— 
(a) Culms not to be cut until the shoots of the year are full grown. 
(b) A period of seasoning of not less than three months to elapse 
before they are used. 
(c) Crushing. 
(d) Extraction of starchy matter. 
(e) Digestion with sulphate liquor. 
The adoption of this scheme of treatment not only gets rid of the 
special difficulties above mentioned, but also brings all five species to 
so nearly a common level that pulp of excellent quality can be pro¬ 
duced from any of them by treatment of which the extreme variations 
need not exceed limits of 20 to 22 per cent. NaOH (inclusive of Na S) 
temperatures of 162° to 177°, pressures of 80 to 120 lbs. and duration 
of digestion 5 to 6 hours. 
40. In attempting to form an approximate estimate of the cost at 
Cost. which such pulp can be produced, the paramount 
i m p° r ta nce of site and freight facilities must be 
strongly insisted on. The total amount of inward and outward freightage 
per ton of product is approximately 6 tons, made up as follows :_Coal 2 
tons, bamboo 2£, lime and soda J, sundries and pulp 1 ton. Therefore 
if freight cost averages only Rs. 5 per ton, it amounts to Rs. 30 on an 
article worth approximately Rs. 125. It will be understood from this 
that any estimate based on a factory site where the freight conditions are 
not accurately known would be of very little value. Of all the localities 
enquired into by the Forest Economist, the neighbourhood of Rangoon is 
the one which offers the greatest amount of certainty and the least amount 
of speculation on this point and I shall therefore base my estimate upon a 
site there, and assume that it has the advantages of rail, river and sea 
transportation, and that a plant capable of producing 200 tons per week of 
unbleached pulp is erected. This selection does not imply any adverse 
reflection upon the other localities reported on by the Economist, and I 
would point out the possibility of some of them having advantages in 
other respects to counterbalance any transport disadvantages, should 
such exist. Thus, in South Malabar the estimated cost of bamboo deli¬ 
vered at factory site is only Rs. 4 per ton against Rs. 10 at Rangoon a 
difference which means Rs. 13-8 per ton of pulp. Again, a site nearer’to 
a coal supply might easily be equivalent (assuming equal advantages in 
Other respects) to a reduction of Rs. 15 to Rs. 20 per ton of pulp. 
[ 213 ] 
D 
