SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
districts, though, perhaps, it yields slightly more pulp, which is some- 
what easier to -bleach—30 per cent. of bleached pulp can be obtained, © 
7.e., 100 lbs. of air-dried original bagasse yields 30 lbs. of an undried 
bleached pulp. This was with the yellow Caledonian variety. “ Hawaii 
109” yielded 27 per cent., but Lahaina was much lower, yielding only 
22 per cent. These percentages are higher if the yields are calculated 
on the dry shredded and sifted bagasse, e.g., Yellow Caledonian then 
yields 48 per cent. ‘ 
The process employed in cooking makes very little difference in the 
yield, as by the soda process the result was 30 per cent., and by the 
sulphate process 29 per cent. 
QuaLiry oF THE Purp. 
The three varieties yielded the same quality of pulp. The 
length of fibre is shorter than the typical bleached fibre of the 
soda process in the United States of America. Paper made from 
bagasse pulp is intermediate in quality between the United States of 
America soda and sulphite papers, and it would make an excellent book - 
paper. For writing paper it imparts a certain “feel” and character 
to the sheet, which is very desirable. Although capable of yielding a 
good sheet of writing paper by itself, it would most probably be used 
with rag, sulphite, or soda fibre for the production of book paper and 
cheaper grade writing paper. In strength it is somewhat weaker than 
sulphite pulp, and is rather too weak for wrapping paper. One of the 
troublesome features is the fact that the bagasse is not available through- 
out the year. The crushing season lasts about eight or nine months. ‘To 
operate a pulp mill economically it should be worked not less than 300 
days a year, and therefore some provision would have to be made for 
the off season. The following methods are discussed in the Bulletin :— 
~ 1. Some other source of fibre might be employed, e.g., bamboo has 
been found to yield an excellent pulp, which closely compares with 
bagasse. 
2. Sufficient bagasse might be stored to supply the pulp mill when 
the sugar mill is not crushing. In this case it would have to be dried 
to prevent fermentation. It is suggested that a gradual surplus might 
pe built up during the whole of the crushing season. The most serious 
objection to this process is the storage space required. The sifted 
bagasse necessary to run a 30-ton pulp mill for 100 days would occupy 
1,200,000 cubic feet. 
3. A pulp mill might be combined with a paper mill, and the former 
designed to produce, in the crushing season, sufficient pulp to keep the 
paper mill in operation for 300 days a year. Unlike the bagasse, the 
pulp need not be dried, as it can readily be stored in the wet condition, 
and the space required should present little difficulty. In the case of 
a 10-ton mill, approximately 1,000 tons of bleached pulp would have to 
-be accumulated during the crushing season for running the paper mill 
for the balance of the year. . The relative merits of- making pulp and 
making paper haye been carefully considered. . ity, ; 
‘The remaining sections of the Bulletin cover the commercial’ aspect, 
and the figures are based on 1912 statistics, as conditions have been too 
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