Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-27
new USES FOR MAIZE
Indian Corn a More Valuable Plant
Than Formerly Supposed.
BREAD MADE OUT OF The LEAVES.
The Germs Yield Oil for iilumina-
ton and Machinery.
THE COBS AND HUSKS

THE COBS AND HUSKS.
The demand for paper in the
world is growing greater steadily. In
order to supply it many new vegetable
materials have been made to serve as stock,
rags today furnishing only a minor fraction
OF the raw stun employed for the purpose
Among these substances wood pulp stands
first. very important contribution is
made also by the famous esparto grass Of
northern Africa and southwestern Europe
But the time is approaching when the leaves
OF Indian corn will be utilized in this way
to an enormous extent.
In Vienna the manufacture Of paper from
maize is already conducted on an extensive
scale. The Allegemeine Zeitung, a scien-
tifc journal of Importance is printed on
sheets Of this product, the yeliowish tint of
which Is restful to the eyes, 1t has a num-
Der or other advantages. Very little sizing
Is required; 1t bleaches well and 1t is stronger
than rag paper. No machinery is required
for tearing up the corn leaves. The latter
are merely soaked in hot water for a few
days, after which they are easily separated
into three parts-the large veins and ribs, the
material between the ribs and a coarse
paste.
The first are utilized for making gunny
sacks, cordage and certain kinds of cloth I;
the second furnishes material for a pecu-
liar sort of bread, described as having an
agreeable flavor; the third Is employed for
paper puiD. All of these uses for maize are
new, as is likewise the process Of obtaining
valuable oil from corn. For this last pur-
he 10 ha
which contain the OIL are separated by
winnowing. The germs are then subjected
to hydraulic pressure, yielding Is per cent
of oil, which il of a pale golden yellow
color and has a pleasant taste and odor
1t Is employed in dressing wool and to lu-
bricate machinery. The yield Is sixteen
pounds for every one hundred bushels Of
maize.
Maize oil Is well adapted for illuminating
purposes. giving a bright, white fame. 1t
is also good for heating, developing a high
temperature In burning In the west, where
the supply Of fuel Is often precarious, corn
cobs are frequently used in stoves, three
tons Of them being reckoned as equal to one
ton Of hard coal. Sometimes when there
has been a fuel famine, the whole ear has
been employed. In France the cobs, sat-
urated with resin and tar, are utilized as
fire lighters. fetching, when thus prepared
from $40 to "a per thousand, according to
size.
The husks are used for packing oranges
and cigars, as well as in stufing pillows.
mattresses and lounges. AS shoppers for
bottles also the cobs are sometimes employ
ed. Toasted cornmeal Is utilized in some
parts of this country as a substitute for
coffee. The cobs yield a large amount OF
potash. A mill Smelling 500 bushels an
hour turns out 1000 pounds Of cobs every
sixty minutes, or 10000 pounds for each
working day. The cobs are consumed as
fuel in the mills, and the refuse ashes are
collected for the extraction of the potash.
A factory of the aforementioned capacity
will furnish as a by-product 535 pounds Of
potash per diem.
Theory Of It's Origin.
Science has devoted much attention to
finding out where this most valuable Of
American farm products had its origin. An
overwhelming weight of testimony goes to
show that the earliest home of maize was
the highlands of Central Mexico. All of
the plants closely related to Indian corn
are indigenous to that part of the world.
1t is believed that the vegetable originated
in a circumscribed locality, above 800 feet
elevation, north of the Isthmus Of Tehuan-
tepec and south of the twenty-second de-
gree of north latitude near the ancient seat
of the Maya tribes. There is hardly
doubt that the Mayas were the first to cul-
tivate maize and that they distributed 1t
in every direction. From them the use Of
H.
1t is considered probable that the plant
was known along the Rio Grande by 700
A. d. Three hundred years later it had
reached the coast Of Maine. In Peru the
Incas used it before the year 200. BY the
time of Columbus 1t was found everywhere
1t was one of the products Of American
soil which the great navigator took back
with him to Spain and showed to Queen Is
abella. From Spain it soon spread over Eu-
rope, and in the sixteenth century grains
of it were sold in Italian, French, German
and English gardens. Before long 1t was
cultivoted upon a larger scale in the fields.
1t became widely known as Turkish
wheat" because the new world was con-
fused in the popular mind with the East
Indies, the trade with which was carried
on by way of Turkey.
In Ancient Mexico.
The ancient Mexicans, to whom the de-
velopment Of the usefulness Of Indian corn
is due, were highly civilized people. They
were skiiiful builders. made utensils of cop
per and tin. worked gold and silver into or
naments had an elaborate religious system.
preserved a large literature on parchment
Of the maguey plant, kept a calendar and
understood the arts of agriculture. raising
beans, pepper, gourds and many other fruits
Of tillage. Their country was so densely
populated that floating gardens were con-
structed, on which all products of the soil
known to them, particularly maize and
beans, were sown. These gardens were
constructed OF logs OVerlalQ with earth.
They have been described by historians as
fairy isiets of flowers overshadowed by
trees of considerable size" Even to this
day such floating islands are built and an
cEored in Mexican lakes for purposes of
pleasure.
The ruins of great irrigation works testi-
fly to the extent and development of the
cultivation Of maize by the ancient Peru
VANS. Their tombs commonly contained
corn, either in the ear or the grain. The
bodies of these people were buried in
squatting position. with the knees drawn up
beneath the chin, and were rolled and tied
in mats. Heads Of corn and copper agricul-
tural implements were included in the roll
ing. With the corpse were usually placed
a water vessel and a pot with grains of
maize. All along the coast of Peru for 200
miles are scattered thousands of such pre-
historic tombs Darwin unearthed some ears
Of corn on the seashore, in a stratum which
had evidently been raised by geologic action
from nearer the sea level, and to them he
assigned q great antiquity.
Corn and the Cliff Dwellers.
In the houses Of the ancient clif-dweliers,
in southwest Colorado and northern New
Mexico. stalks, husks, tassels. cobs and ker-
nels Of corn are found. That some of this
material is as old as the buildings is proved