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Show ground, cooked and changed into a llqi.id form, when it Is cleansed by the new processes and then pressed Into sneeti.. It Is then ready tor the nitration Process and the addition of the other necessao chemicals. , . ,. Germany is under no difficulty so tai as the supplv of the raw material is concerned. At one time she was dependent depend-ent upon. Scandinavia for her supplies o wood pulp, but some years ago "? herself to the task of mnklng her own. since when she has become largely seB-supporting seB-supporting In this direction. Three or the largest factories are now engaged in turning out the new basis for explosives. explo-sives. These are: -., Zellstofr-labrik, Waldhof. near Mann-helm. Mann-helm. . . , ways been a practically unlimited supplv sup-plv and because it could be obtained at a cheaper rate than any other suitable substance. sub-stance. Neither Is tiie Importance 01 cotton, from the military point of view, confined to the manufacture of ammunition ammuni-tion alone; there are many other ways In which it Is useful In the equipment 01 modern armies. .. It has therefore been thought that if the supplv of cotton to Germany ana Austria could be cut off the work of the manufacture of ammunition would be seriously hampered. And how serous such a state of affairs would be will at once h" scn when we remember tne enormous quantities of shells that are required re-quired bv modern warfare. The writer discovered, however, that Actlen Gesellschaft fur Mnscninenpapiei Fabrication, Asehaffeiiburg. ZellstofT-fabrtk. Kosthelni. In the first of these places, between three and four thousand men nre full emploved In this -work. As well-seasoned wood Is required for making wood pulp, large reserves of timber have been accumulated ac-cumulated from Great Britain and from Russia, so that there Is no fear of an shortasre. The kind of timber used is chiefly pine, ash and birch. It Is asserted that if the supply of raw-cotton raw-cotton to Germany were entirely stopped she might be able to tide over the difficulties, diffi-culties, but one has his doubts, the number of wood pulp factories being limited. Mv informant contended Hint explosives made from wood pulp were for some purposes even better than those made from cotton. An equal quantity of nitrogen in its various forms could be absorbed. So far as could be gathered, metallic impurities were removed from the pulp by passing acid through It. With their usual thoroughness, the Germans still keep a large staff of their best chemists at work, and every day the process is being improved and made more certain and reliable In its results. Philadelphia Public Ledger. the Germans, with their usual waKctui-ness waKctui-ness have been alive to the Importance of the problem and do not Intend, if they can help it. to be hampered in this way. The brightest intellects among their chemists have attacked the problem and it Is believed to have been practically solved Kxperlments are still being carried car-ried on but sufficient progress has already al-ready been made to enable the substitute to be used freelv and successfully. This substitute, which the Germans hope will render them Independent of cotton cot-ton supplies from other countries. Is wood pulp. This article is, In Its composition, almost identical chemically with cotlon fiber But the great difficulty in the way of using It as a substitute Tor cotlon Is the presence of many Impurities which are not found In the latter commodity. The most Important of these Impurities are resin and oxy-cellulose. Unless these could he completely removed the resulling explosives would he uncertain in their aetlnn and highly dangerous to those who were manufacturing them. Their basis must be absolutely pure. The chief task which the German chemists chem-ists had to perform was to discover some way in which these foreign matters could be effectively and completely ' removed re-moved from the wood pulp after It had been nroduced bv the usual processes from the wood Itself and made read;' to absorb the nitrates and other chemicals neeessarv to make It into an explosive. The w;rlter. who visited the factories, was not able to discover the whole secret of the process which has lately been pcr-fectec pcr-fectec in Germany, and this is naturally carefully guarded. But in its early stages It is the same as that which Is followed in turning wood Into pulp for the manufacture of paper. The wood is vYisceJlani) Germans Using Pulp for Cotton. Hitherto cotton has been considered to be the only satisfactory basis, for the manufacture of high explosives. It has i attained this position because it Is more j free from impurities than any substitute j which can be used, because there has al- |