C—3A

6

PULPING AND PAPERMAKING PROPERTIES OF SELECTED NEW-ZEALAND-GROWN WOODS BY C. E. Curran, Chemist in Forest Products ; P. K. Baird, Associate Chemist in Forest Products ; E. R. Schafer, Associate Engineer in Forest Products ; W. H. Monsson, Assistant Chemist in Forest Products ; G. H. Chidester, Assistant Engineer in Forest Products; United States Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Section of Pulp and Paper (Clarke C. Heritage, in charge); and A. R. Entrican, Engineer in Forest Products, New Zealand State Forest Service. GENERAL. SUMMARY. This report presents the results of a study made by the Forest Products Laboratory, U.S.A. Depart ment of Agriculture, Forest Service, at Madison, Wisconsin, in co-operation with the New Zealand State Forest Service, into the pulping and papermaking properties of six selected New-Zealand-grown woods. Of these, two woods are indigenous to the Dominion of New Zealand —rimu (Dacrydium cu'pressinum), a softwood, and tawa (Beilsohmiedia tawa), a hardwood.* The remainder are all introduced softwoods —insignis pine (Pinus radiata), better known in North America as the Monterey pine of California ; and Corsican pine (Pinus Laricio), Austrian pine (P. austriaca), and European larch (Larix europaea), the natural habitat of all three species being, as the names indicate, the Continent of Europe. To the co-operator the important conclusion to the study is that a good commercial grade of newsprint can be produced from insignis pine alone, or from a mixture of insignis pine and tawa or some similar hardwood. Of almost equal importance is the indication that high-grade kraft papers (i.e., wrappings, &c.) can be manufactured from rimu, insignis pine, and the other softwoods. The tests further show that other classes of paper, such as book, fine printings, writings, &c, may be manufactured from some of the woods studied ; but, since they are consumed in comparatively small quantities, they do not command the same attention as do newsprint and wrappings, which lead all papers in quantities consumed. Practically all of the woods investigated proved suitable, too, for various types of fibre-board, such as building-board, container-board, &c. SIGNIFICANCE. To the United States of America the study is of far-reaching significance. It provides both a semi and a full commercial demonstration of the wide range of papers and other products which can be manufactured from hardwood pulps suitably produced and processed, and intelligently combined with varying proportions of softwood pulps. The results, together with those secured from other hardwood-pulping studies carried out at the Madison Forest Products Laboratory, should be of great value in the solution of our entire future pulp-supply problem. Many mills established in the New England, the Middle Atlantic, and the Lake States especially are encountering ever-increasing difficulties in securing their pulpwood, either domestic or imported, at a price which will enable them to compete with Canadian and other foreign producers. The pulping of hardwoods available either on their own limits or on adjacent territory should be the chief means of reducing their rawmaterial costs, of lessening their dependence upon imported pulpwood-supplies, and of re-establishing the industry upon a stable economic basis. It should simplify the management of existing mixed stands, and should go a long way towards assisting to perpetuate the softwood content in the forests of these sections. In the Central, South Atlantic, and Lower Mississippi States it should open the way for new industries. For obvious reasons it is impossible to give a concrete sum total of how much hardwood-pulping will reduce our dependence upon imported pulpwood, but the critical need of the industry is ample justification for a careful scrutiny of its possibilities. It is very certain that some such development will be one of the chief means of offsetting any pulpwood deficit to our present industry until increased amounts can be grown. HISTORY. The laboratory phase of the work was begun in July, 1927, when, at the instance of the New Zealand State Forest Service, the Forest Products Laboratory undertook to determine the pulping characteristics, and to a certain extent the papermaking qualities of a number of New-Zealand-grown woods. In line with the desires of the co-operator, special attention was directed towards the production of a satisfactory newsprint paper. The study was not limited to conventional practices, and eventually

* Commercially the term " softwoods " refers to trees with needle or scale-like leaves, such as kauri and the introduced pines, and the term " hardwoods " to trees with broad leaves, such as beech, oak, poplar, &c.