Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1884-09-20
A Use for sawdust.


stream for the water to carry away
than it is to cart it away or burn it.
The sawdust kills the fish in the stream,
but he would be an idiotic mill owner
who would permit such public loss to
interfere with his private gain and so
he dumps the sawdust, kills the fish,
puts his hands in his pockets, and asks
the public: "What are you going to
do about it?" The States have enact.
ed laws fOrbidding this disposition of
sawdust, and prescribing penalties for
the ofense, but offenders usually man
age to ignore the law or evade it en-
tirely. Thousands and thousands of
streams which once harbored excellent
food fish have been ruined by the saw
dust. In the last report by the New
York Commissioners of Fisheries, it is
stated that "of all causes there is prob.
ably none that has exerted such an in>
huence in expelling both salmon and
trout from our spring streams as the
presence of sawdust." And the Com
missioners go on to state that although
there is a statute governing this, it is
practically useless because carelessly
worded.
The destruction of fish is not all that
the sawdust has to answer for. 1t kills
human beings. Water polluted with
decaying sawdust spreads malaria, and
makes miserable the lives of those who
dwell on the banks of the plague.bear-
ing stream. This is notably the case
with the Raquette river, whose whole
lower course is cursed with chills and
fever; and Potsdame, where one of the
State normal schools is situated, has
become a very undesirable place Of
residence from that cause.
When urged to burn, or in some
other way to dispose Of their sawdust.
lumbermen have objected that they
could not afford the cost. There is 6
hope that the perplexing problem o.
dealing with this nuisance may now be
solved, for process has been discover
ed by which the refuse sawdust may be
made to yield handsome profit
When dry it is carbonized in iron re
torts, and in the process there is giveI
off 80 per cent. of volatile products
the remaining 20 per cent. being gran
ulated charcoal, which can be used fo
making gunpowder, filters, lining re
frigerators, and as disinfectant; anC
mixed with little tar it could b,
pressed into brick and used as fuel
% of the so per cent. of the volatile
products is in the form of fixed gases
which can be used for heating, lighting
etc.; At per cent. is pyroligenous acid
which is crude acetic acid, and afte
being purified and concentrated,
used in white lead, color, print ant
vinegar manufactures.
9 There remains 10 per cent. of ia
and one of wood alcohol. The tar ha
the same properties as coal tar, the al
most endless uses of which, such a
pitching roofs, lining water tanks, GOV
ering the bottoms Of vessels, protectin
iron from rusting, covering the wound
made in pruning trees, and the form
of benzole, naptha, carbolic and su
phuric acids, and the whole splendi
series Of analine dyes, constitute one {
! the chief glories of modern chemistry
The wood or methyllic alcohol is use
=, as a solvent for gums, in varnish NAL
, ing, and in the manufacture of analin
colors.
The sawdust from yellow pine an
, other woods rich in resin, yields also
considerable amount of turpentine,
the gathering of which SO many tire,
;. are every year sacrificed.
Q 1t is estimated that in saving inc
l. boards of pine, hemlock, etc., the on
j. fourth in sawkerf uses up one.fifth
Y the log. When lumber is sawed
i. the billion feet, one can easily see tn
d the question of disposing of the sawdu
d in way to yield profit, instead of
IS frst-class nuisance, is very importal
q one.