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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 6

Paper Materials.—

Paper Materials.—

1.Bamboo.—

The energy and persistence with which Mr. Routledge has advocated the claims of bamboo as a paper material have attracted much attention in India. The nature of the problem which has to be solved has been discussed in previous Kew Reports (1877, pp. 35, 36, and 1878, pp. 42 to 44), and need not be further dwelt upon. It is now generally conceded by those interested in the matter that the young bamboo shoots must be cropped so as not to impair the vitality of the clumps. Dr. King, Superintendent of the Royal Botanical Garden, Calcutta, remarks that the plan of taking a few shoots annually from each clump is the principle on which bamboos have been cut in India from time immemorial.

That without such caution the bamboo cannot be cut indefinitely, even in countries where it is merely used for local purposes, is shown by the fact that in the Government forests in India it has been found necessary to give the bamboos rest. For example, Dr. Brandis, Inspec-tor-General of Forests, states in his recent report that "in some forest tracts of the Damoh district the page 33 growth of the bamboo had been so greatly restored by four years protection against cutting that it was lately found possible, subject to certain restrictions, to reopen these blocks for the cutting of bamboos. Dr. King lays down very clearly the questions which now remain to be settled. They are whether commercial success can be obtained (1), by forming plantations of bamboos for the collection of succulent shoots; (2), by collecting the immature shoots of wild bamboos in the forests and carrying them to a paper factory; or (3), by fitting up a floating paper stock mill and moving it about on rivers by the banks of which bamboos naturally abound."

2. Broussonetia papyrifera.—

The bark of the well-known paper mulberry supplies the material from which the tappa cloth of Polynesia and the bulk of the paper of Japan and China is manufactured. The Japanese cultivate the plant very much in the same way that we grow osiers, and they use only the young shoots for the manufacture of paper. A sample of the bark which came into the hands of Mr. Routledge is stated by him to be nearly, if not quite, the best fibre I have seen." . . "I must admit it is even superior to bamboo." . . "It requires very little chemicals, and gives an excellent yield 62.5 per cent, in the grey, i.e., merely boiled, and 58 per cent bleached."

3. Esparto.—

It is evident from the mode in which this grass (Macrochloa tenacissima, also known as Alfa) is collected in Mediterranean countries that the supply must eventually materially diminish, if it does not altogether die out. It grows sporadically in strong ground under conditions which do not admit of any steps being taken for its cultivation. Mr. Routledge writes in the early part of last year:—"I have just had two large cargoes of Alfa from Tripoli, and the rapid deterioration of this comparatively new district is striking; the grass when first it was introduced was long and strong; now some of it is as fine and short as the shortest Spanish. I have a quantity varying from 6 to 10 inches only. It is the inevitable result of overcropping."

Esparto is consequently becoming relatively scarcer in the market, while its price is rising. Paper manufacturers arc therefore anxiously on the look-out for some material equal in quality to esparto and procurable with as much facility, and at as reasonable a price as esparto was when first introduced.

4. Guadua.—

The giigantic bamboos of the Old World belonging to the genera Bambusa and Dendrocalamus are represented by those belonging to Guadua in the tropics of the New World. In order to ascertain how far a supply of this kind of bamboo would be available, Mr. Routledge and some other gentlemen interested in the matter sent Mr. Thomson (late Superintendent of the Cinchona Plantations, .Jamaica) on a mission to Venezuela, to explore the bamboo forests. The species met with by Mr. Thomson appeared to be Guadua amplexifolia. He reports:—This guadua grows about the same size as Bambusa vulgaris, viz., from 50 to 60 feet in height, with culms 5-6 inches in diameter. The latter are much thicker in texture than the bamboo stems, and their fibrous tissue is much tougher, so that much more labour is required to cut them down than in the case of the bamboo. And this applies equally to the young stems, i.e., young shoots of bamboo, say 10 feet high, are easily cut with a knife, but each stem of guadua page 34 of a corresponding size and expansion requires more than one blow from a sharp axe."

The bamboo (guadua) forest over large extents of country is generally of the same age, and consequently the plants flower and die simultaneously, a circumstance which only happens after protracted intervals, but which when it does happen is succeeded for a time by an almost total disappearance of the plant. This had happened in Venezuela about the time of Mr. Thomson's expedition and Mr. Routledge informs us: "I regret to say that I do not, see much inducement to proceed with the undertaking I proposed. To do so would involve laying out regular plantations, and having regard to the uncertain political condition of the country, the difficult and dear labour, and some other drawbacks, the prospect of commercial success is not sufficiently tempting for me and my friends to embark in the undertaking."

5. Indian Forest Fibres.—

The important collection of Indian forest products transmitted to Kew by the Indian Forest Department (see Kew Report, 1878, p. 50) included an extensive series of bark fibres. Specimens of all these were placed in the hands of Mr. Routledge, of the Ford Works, Sunderland, to whom Kew is under constant obligation for information and assistance in connection with the paper manufacture. He was good enough to test them all as regards their yield when converted into rough (paper) stock, and he has furnished us with the following report:—
Green Yield. Bleached.
Per cent. Per cent.
1. Bauhinia Vahlii; excellent strong fibre; hemp character and tough 60 54.7
2. Bombax malabarica; coarse, harsh, woody; tender and short, bleached 48 37.5
3. Butea frondosa; very coarse and woody; rotten and short, bleached 56.25 37.5
4. Careya arborea; coarse, rather harsh and woody; somewhat tender, bleached 47 45.3
5. Eriolæna Hookeriana; very strong but harsh; better felting properly than 8 to 12 50 42.8
6. Ficus benyalensis; fairly strong and fibrous; rather tender, bleached 61 54.7
7. Ficus infectoria; good, strong, and fibrous; fair quality, bleached 51.7 51.5
8. Grewia tiliæfolia; strong harsh, wiry, hard; same bleached 50 43.7
9. Helicteres Isora; very strong, green; better than 8 and 10 to 12 bleached 68.8 61
10. Stercalia colorata; similar to 8 and 11; harsh and wiry 60.7 59
11. Sterculia wrens; similar to 7; rather better 59.3 47
12. Sterculia villosa; similar to 8, 10, and 11 60 51.5
page 35

Of these fibres, No. 1 is decidedly best, possessing the characteristics of strong linen rags, i.e., of coarse flax and hemp; the raw bark is worth 7l. to 8l., possibly 9l., per ton; the bleached stock 20l. to 22l.

"No. 7 is the next best bark, worth 6l. to 7l. per ton raw. None of the others are of much value for white papers, excepting, perhaps, Nos. 5 and 9; say 5l. to 7l. for No. 5, and 5l. to 6l. for No. 9. It would, however, be necessary to make a practical working trial, that is, to make paper from all of them (excepting No. 1) before pronouncing positively as to value. No. 1 I believe fully worth what I have appraised it at."

"All of these raw barks required a very large dose of bleach to bring them to even the low colour they are. No doubt opening them out by willowing or teasing them, both before and after boiling, would materially improve them. I do not consider, with the exception of Nos. 1 and 7, it would pay to import them from India."

6. Molinia cærulea.—

The proposition of using this common British grass for the purpose of papermaking was mentioned in the Kew Report for 1878, p. 45. Mr. N. G. Richardson, of Tyaquin, county Galway, has since actively promoted its experimental cultivation in the west of Ireland. At a private meeting held at Athenry a committee was formed to raise subscriptions to plant ten Irish acres of bog with it at Tyaquin. Mr. W. Smith, of Golden Bridge Mills, had manufactured paper from this grass, with which he was so well satisfied that he was prepared to buy 1,000 tons if any one would supply him."

7. Portuguese esparto.—

A grass sent for identification by Mr. Routledge under this name was determined to be Stipa capillata. He informed us that it would make paper, but that the yield of fibre was not even equal to straw, say 33 per cent.

8. Rye-straw.—

The claims of rye-straw (Secale cereale) have been urged as a paper material by Mr. Noble. It has the prima facie merit of being a home-grown ma-terial. Mr. Noble says:—"Rye (not 'rye-grass') should be sown early in October, so as to be cut green in May and June, in time to get the land clear for turnips and other vegetables. I have found it best to sow four bushels per acre for the purpose of getting a heavier crop, stifling the weeds, which would be injurious to the purpose for which it is intended; and the thinner and longer the stems are grown the more fibre they produce."

Mr. Noble believes that rye-straw will make paper not inferior to that made from esparto, and that papermakers can afford to give a price for it which will be sufficiently remu-nerative to the farmer to grow it.

Mr. Routledge remarks upon the proposal to use it:—"It is very largely used in the States, also on the Continent. It will make a harder and firmer paper than any other cereal straw, except, perhaps, maize."