The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1895-10-03
USE OF THE SUNFLOWER.
THE GAUDY PLANT VALUABLE IN
A MULTIPLICITY OF WAYS.
lt Furnishes Nutritious Food for
Man and Beast-A Tobacco Adul-
terant-SunflOwer Salad OIL.

"H HE poeiical nature of the nn.
flower has received ample at.
tention from the pens Of writ
ers, but its practical utility
is just beginning to be generally rec
Ognized. In China and Russia the
sunhower is considered a valuable
plant, and it is raised for its seeds at
the rate OF nearly nearly half mil
lion pounds annually. The poor farm-
ers Of Italy and India likewise attach
great Importance to the plant, and the
seeds are harvested for animal food
and for poultry.
One of the most important uses Tor
the sunhower seeds is as food for poul-
try and cattle. It has long been
valued by progressive farmers as
an excellent and cheap food for fowls.
Nothing makes them fatten quicker,
and they will frequently leave all 9TH
er food for them. The seeds make the
hens lay better, aud greatly increase
their weight. They can DO raised
cheaper than corn, and give better re-
suits. As food for cattle experiments
are now in progress at several OF the
experiment stations, and the results
50 far obtained are very satisfactory.
Sunfower oil made from the seeds
is in great demand in this country.
In Russia millions cf pounds of the
seeds are raised annually for the oil,
and large quantities Of this oil are ex-
ported from that country. In the
crude state it is used by painters for
inside work, but IL does not quite equal
linseed oil for varnish purposes. 1t
ismixed with most of our cheap paints,
and also with many prepared stains.
OF late years efforts have been made
to refine the oil SO as to sell in COM
petition with olive oil. In fact, puri-
fed sunaower oil is used quite extern
sively to adulterate salad oils. Many
consider it equal to the ordinary grades
of olive and almond oil for table uses.
Ii is Of a pale yellow color, havorless,
aud palatable. In Maryland consid-
erable Of this oil is made to supply
the Baltimore trade.
After the oil is extracted from the
seeds the residue is made into cakes
for cattle food, aud, while not so
nutritious as the food made from the
fresh seeds, it is of considerable value.
The factories that express the oil sell
the seed cakes at a merely nominal
sum. In the poorer districts of India
and Europe q fair kind Of bread Is
made from sunaower seeds, and the
natives depend upon it for a steady
article Of diet. Their cattle are fed
with the same diet, only the seeds and
heads are chopped up together, and
even the leaves are fed to the animals.
The stalks, when stripped OF their
leaves and heads, are dried and used
for fuel. One acre Of sunhowers will
yield a great many cords OF good food.
The stalks are large, tough, brittle,
and good burners. A few acres Of such
fuel will last one all winter.
Many cheap cigars are made from
the leaves of the sunAower. When
properly cured the large leaves make
excellent wrappers for cheap cigars,
and in this country they are employed
for this work to a larger extent than
many imagine. When pulverized and
mixed with an equal quantity Of to-
bacco, the combination is not inferior
to many of the cheap grades OF Con-
necticut tobacco. In fact, the sun
flower leaves give a peculiar aromatic
flavor to the tobacco that is liked by
many smokers. Cheap cigarettes have
considerable Of this kind Of tobacco In
them.
The stalks find other uses than that
for fuel. In China the fibre is treated
like fax, and woven to a great extent
in silk fabrics. The stalks have 10 be
gathered at the right time for this use,
and then shredded either by hand or
machinery. The fibre is fine and
silky, very strong, and endurable.
The Chinese use it to give strength to
their silk fabrics.
Several MINOR articles are made
from the sunhowers. From the bright
yellow blossoms a yellow dye is made
that stands use very well. The process
of making the dye is not difficult nor
expensive. Moreover the flower pro-
duces very fine honey and wax when
properly treated In England the
honey and wax are made more success
fully than elsewhere, and as side Is
sue the manufacture Of these two
products is very profitable. Finally
potash can be made from the stalks.
With all Of these commercial uses,
the sunhowers should prove a profit
able crop in a country where they
grow naturally wild in the fields and
gardens. Although n native Of tropical
America, the plant has a wide limit OF
growth, including Russia, India,
China, North America, and all of Eu-
rope. Where the seeds are sown IN
cultivated fields for a commercial crop
from II, 900 to %, 900 stalks are raised
to the acre. New York Post