The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-03-02
INTERESTING INFORMATION.
Something about the Use OF Refuse Matter
in es-Fncts not generally
known.

in Manufac tures-Fncts not generally
known.
1t is astonishing to what an extent
refuse matter from one industry is
eagerly sought after in some other
mandatory, so that Lord Palmer
ston's famous mot, "Dirt is only matter
in the wrong place" seems to have been
prophetic as to many of our modern
trades. The tanneries, for instance,
throw away as refuse, tanbark, etc,
which are the basis of many fertilizers,
the manufacture of which is an in
dustry annually increasing. These
tanbark and leather scraps, hair, etc,
are also of great value to the manu-
facturers of glue, as they contain gela-
tine. The grease from this refuse is
handed in to still another mandatory,
from whence it energies as shoemakers'
wax and printers ink. Old boots and
shoes are also resolved into their orr
ginal elements in this latter manufaC-
tory. and used in the manufacture of
various dyes and the preparation of
the salt called Iridium of blood. Bones
are extensively used in making fertili-
zers and glue, and also in refining
sugar after having been calcined, or
changed to bone charcoal. The fat
from the bones is used in soap-factories.
We are all familiar with the fact that
old linen and cotton rags are used
again in the manufacture of paper;
while the wooden scraps and pieces
form the basis of our new overcoats,
etc, as the wooden rags are carefully
cleaned, and the threads picked apart,
then mixed with some new wool and
woven into handsome cloak and dress
goods. The wooden dust from these
operations is saved and pressed into
felt hats and skirts. The employment
of rags in the manufacture of paper and
shoddy is nothing new, but it is GER
tainly wonderful to read of the extern
sion of this industry into all parts of
the Old and New Worlds, SO that moth
ing is lost or wasted on this mundane
sphere.
Imperial Cesar, dead, and turned to clay,
Might land probably does) stop a hole to
keep the wind away.
Heavy carpets, sailors cloths, all the
coarse wooden articles now put on the
market contain percentage of old rags,
which very often comes within a frac-
ton of being 100 per cent of the
whole. The grease obtained in clean
ing these rags and in washing new
wool is sent to the soap and candle
factories, to which gravitate all the
fatty refuse of manufactures and
cities generally.
Glycerine is one of the refuse pro-
ducts of the soap and stearine indus
try, which is too well known to need
comment. The refuse matter in the
manufacture of brandy and whisky
contains fusel oil, one of the worst
smelling substances yet known, but at
the same time one of the principal
agents in the manufacture of per-
fumery and fruit essences. The refuse
matter CT the breweries, sugar-presses,
and distilleries is largely used for
fodder, although it is not considered
very good for cattle, but is used "faute
de mieux." The refuse of the wine
press yields the famous cognac oil, a
few drops of which added to brandy
gives it peculiarly rich flavor and per-
fume.
A certain kind of brandy is obtained
from the waste products of the beet
root sugar industry, while rum is dis
titled from cane-sugar molasses. The
refuse of the fish drying and canning
establishments produces fsh-guano, the
best fertilizer yet known. a certain
sea-weed is extensively used in uphol-
stering nowadays, and coarse paper
is made from it. There is actually no
limit to the articles now made from
paper, the paper car-wheels being the
most surprising as yet. Even broken
glass and crockery are used again in
the glass factories. Cigarets are known
to contain in large percentage the
cigar-stumps collected on the streets,
and even the straight IIayanas" are
not always free for them. But the
most interesting of all these uses to
which refuse matter has been put is
the manufacture of the aniline dyes
from coal-tar, the waste product of gas
manufacture red, yellow, green, blue,