LUMBER.

Western Star, Issue 982, 16 September 1885, Page 3

LUMBER.

Lumber is now made of the pulp of ■wheat, rye and oat-straw, and other vegetable fibres, combined with chemical ingredients and cements. It is formed in layers, about one quarter of an inch in thickness, and these are pressed together by povferful machinery, and thus rendered as hard as the hardest wood, besides being much more dense. The boards are also rendered waterproof in varying degrees, according to the purpose for which they are to be used. The material is as durable as time, and can be sold at a good profit for almost half less than ordinary pine Jamber. It willtake any finish, and in this respect alone is equal to tie finest hard wood. Moreover, it can be marbleixed in imitation of any kind of marble, both in respect to a high degree pf. polish and an exact imitation of grain. It will not warp and can be rendered perfectly waterproof if desirable, thus making it suitable for the construction of curial caskets. It makes just as solid a surface as any wood'and may be made of the hardness of stone. As* a substitute for wood in the construction of buildings it possesses qualities of perfect adaptation. It will make the finest material in the world for roofing, not excepting slate or iron. It can be sawed, split or planed, and boards made of it are perfectly smooth and flat from end to end on both Bides, without any knots, cracks or blemishes of any kind commonly met with in wood. But is the supply of paper stock sufficient to permit the general use of paper lumber as a substitute of wood? "Why not ? The production of straw alone is sufficierit. It takes 100 years to grow 20,000 feet nf natural timber on an acre of ground. On the other hand, an acre of ground will produce every year enough straw to make 2,000 feet of artificial lumber, and' hence in a hundred years it will produce 200,000 feet—ten times as much as the quantity of natural lumber. __