Pulp Non-Fiction

Bedding from Eaton’s 1909 catalogue.

In the 1910 Textile Manufacturers Magazine I was just looking at, one article popped out at me.

Can Pulp Wood be used for Making Textiles? asked the headline.

So, even back then, 100 years ago, they were looking for alternatives to the cotton and flax plant.

I’m guessing Norman Nicholson of my Flo in the City novel (and my husband’s great grandfather) would have been interested in this article. In and around 1900 he got into the pulpwood business.

That’s because the hemlock bark industry in the Eastern Townships of Quebec had dwindled down to nothing.

I know because it is mentioned in a 1901 letter – and also because I have some of his work documents.

Norman had had a thriving hemlock bark business, which had allowed him to borrow the money to build Tighsolas, for 2, 700. dollars in 1896, the year Laurier came to power.

Hemlock bark was used in the tanning process.

But by the turn of the century he had no more business. Other woods were being used in the tanning business. But pulpwood didn’t work out eithe: By 1907 Norman was broke, (I have his bank book, there was 33 dollars in his account).

He applied for work on the Transcontinental Railway and was denied it. “The had no need for inspectors” but would keep his application on file. And then the Quebec Bridge collapsed..the rest is http://www.tigsholas.ca/ history.

As it happened, I sleep on bamboo bed sheets. My husband and I bought a new bed (to help our aching backs) and it was one of these memory foam beds, made of soy, made in Spain and popular in Europe. The salesperson suggested we purchase bamboo sheets, because these foam beds can retain heat because they mould to your body and bamboo sheets are supposed to be cooler than cotton.

I remember thinking, “Bamboo, how weird.” But it’s no weirder than making sheets from cotton, a puffy seed pod or whatever it is.

Well, it’s been about 4 months and I’m not sure the bed is more comfortable than other high end beds, but I can say my body doesn’t ache anymore, in any place, (unless I overdo some exercise.)

And the bedsheets, well, they feel like silk sheets.

I read online that bamboo cloth is supposed to be better for the environment than silk or synthetic cloth.

You see, bamboo is a kind of weed that can be grown without pesticides. It is supposed to be hypoallergenic, anticeptic and absorb odor and sweat.

Well, I’m not sure if my bed smells better these days, what with all the aging dogs and cats sleeping with us. But I have no complaints. And I can wash them fine, and they come out of the dryer silky and sweet.

I’m not 100 percent convinced that soy and bamboo beds are better for the planet or the people living on the planet, workers or consumers. Show me the figures. Soy plantations, I’m sure, have their impact, negative and positive. And even if bamboo is a weed, someone has to pick it. And spin it and weave it.

And after I buy it, I have to wash it.

I guess most bamboo comes from China. Haven’t checked that stat. But I just read that China is now the world’s top supplier of cotton. I doubt they would kill one industry to improve another. But no doubt, this is more complex than I can get my little brain around. The same goes for the textile industry in 1910.

So it’s going to be a trick to get Flora, Edith and Marion to think about this aspect of their clothing-lust.

I will have to introduce a character who works in the Magog plant of Dominion Textile. Maybe I can have a story of a young woman getting injured at the plant. Maybe the niece of the French woman they sometimes use to sew their clothes.