A New Industry. Manufacture of Strawboards. Bombay Government press communique states:-An industry that has not hitherto met with the attention it this country is the manufacture of strawboards, of which large quantities, amounting in value to about 8 lakas of rupees in 1913-l l, are imported into India. deserves in The chief exporting Holland, Relently imports from Japan are noticed to have been countries prior to the war were Germany and the United Kingdom. increasing with great rapidity. "The purposes for which strawboards are used are mainly packing yarn in bundles, book-binding, con structing cardboard boxes and mounting pictures. There must, therefore, always be a large demand for this article, the local manufacture, of which should repay the investment of capital in this country. The chief raw matorials required are straw and lime, the straw being converted into pulp by digesting with lime and ( milk of lime'). The following is a brief description of the process obtained from the Institute :- water Imperial “The straw is chopped into pieces from 1 to 2 inclhes in length and is placed in revolving About 600 gallons of water and 2 to 4 cwt. of line are used for each ton of straw. The charge is digested in the boilers for about 4 hours with boilers with the “milk of lime.' steam at a pressure of 60th, per square inch, and is then discharged. The digested straw edge runner mill, or in beating maheines. The pulp obtained is used for the manufacture of boards and ooarse packing papers.
- A ton pf straw is stated to yield from 12 to 14 cwt. of pulp suitable for the manufacture
thus of strawboard. The pulp is run on to a papermaking machine where the water is removed, and is then built up into boards of the desired thickness by winding it round a press roll. The boards are dried in hot-air chambers or in the open air.' Straw is also used in Europe, in addition to its use for the production of boards and packing paper, for the manufacture of higher grade paper, comparable with esparto papers, for which purpose however it is digested with a solution of caustic soda instead of with milk of lime. From enquiries made by the Bombay indigenous Industries Committee, it has been ascertained that the cost of machinery for the production of both paper and boards on a moderately large scale would be about three lakhs of rupees at the present time, excluding freight, the cost being reduced by about 12 per cent. if the plant is required for the production of boards only. This is, however, not recommended, as the production of paper is said to be more profitable than of boards. The plant has been specially designed for the treatment of straw, grass and like material by is converted into pulp by treatment in an a very cheap process. 《༄རེ་རྗེ་ཇུ་
