The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-01-12

corn growing region of this country
such as was never dreamed Of before,
and which now sounds more like a
dream than the belief and utterance
of scientific experts and men known
throughout the country for their keen
ness and farsightedness in business.
Prof. Gibbs made the announcement
that within a few years the cornstalks
which are now thrown aside, burned,
and otherwise destroyed to get them
out of the way, would be fully as val
liable to the farmer, if not more so,
than the corn itself The corn pith has
been discovered by scientific experts to
be the most valuable vegetable which
can be found for the pupose of protect
ing the sides of battleships from in
rushing water after being struck by
shells. To-day the best of such pad
ding is made from the cocoanut fibre,
and in addition its, cost is less and pro-
duct greater. The Messrs. Cramp of
Philadelphia, proprietors of the largest
shipbuilding plant in this country, have
have pronounced in favor of pith for
the purposes of thus protecting battle
ships. They state their belief that
within few years, after its value has
become generally known, all the battle
ships of the world will be protected
with this pith from the cornstalk, prop
erly condensed into sufficient hard
ness to prevent water entering a ship
which it protects Already a large plant
for the manufacture of this pith cellu-
lose has been established in Owensbor-
ough, Ky. Though now temporarily de-
stroyed by fire the plant will be rapidly
rebuilt on larger scale. Messrs. Cramp
and Gibbs and other Philadelphians of
wealth and distinction are said to have
invested large sums Of money In the en-
terprise.
So much for the plth Of the cornstalk.
This use of 1t Is, promised by experts
and shipbuilders, and its manufacture
into protective pads is now being per-
fected by actual experiments Prof.
Gibbs after delighting the ears Of his
Western listeners with the account of
the newly discovered uses of pith, turn
ed his attention to the stalk itself, the
fibre Of which he declares can be put to
| many uses, the recital of which seems
like the revelation of new and unex-
pected harvest to the western farmers.
The pith will afford one material Of
modern warfare, and the fibre Is also
to be used in battle; one for defence.
the other for offence. Smokeless powder
can be made from the stalk, declared
Prof. Gibbs at total cost of Is cents
per pound while the smokeless powder
which the Government now buys costs
several dollars for a like quantity. The
| saving here is so enormous that it's
great value Is at once apparent. AS has
been proven by actual experiments made
and sworn to by chemical experts of
| the highest standing in the country,
in Government service and out, beau
| tiful lacquer perfectly waterproof and
and of hardness sufficient for uses to
| which it would be put, can also be
made from the stalk. Celluloid, too, it
| Is claimed, can be manufactured cheap
er than from other substances. Contin-
uing, the professor declared that the
| cornstalks could be rendered into fod
der for cattle as good and as whole
some as corn itself The reason that the
| cattle cannot eat the stalks now, he
said. is because 1t Is in such state,
with the pith in its raw state clinging
| to it, that it is nothing but an indigest-
| ible mass and swells in the stomach,
preventing a quantity sufficient for sus-
| tenance to be eaten.
| With the pith drawn out to be used
| for other purposes, the stalk can be
| ground with mixture of other prepare
tions, which would be so cheap as to be
within the means of every one, the very
| best of fodder manufacture upon which
cattle would thrive. The professor cited
an instance in point. Cattle fed from
the swill of distilleries are, he said, OF
such poor quality for meat that only
the very poorest people eat the beef
Before slaughter the cattle grow thin
the hair drops off, and death would
quickly come by natural process did not
| the butchers axe intervene, sparing
the beef from longer suffering and
sending it into the homes of the ex-
tremely poor, cut for eating. With this
swill ground up with the other prep
arations these cattle can thrive upor
perfectly wholesome food and the bes
| fed meat can then go to the poorest as
well as to the more wealthy.
Another purpose to which the corn.
| stalk can be put, declared Prof Gibbs
| is the manufacture of sugar. Better
finer, and cheaper sugar can be made
from it. he claimed, than is made from
the sugar cane of Louisiana. The
| speaker wound up by saying that wher
| these facts became thoroughly known
/ and realized and plants put into opera
ton for the manufacture of the article:
the entire crop of the country would
be required to meet the demand, anC
the farmer would receive at least s2.5t
! per ton for cornstalk, which he now |.
| sometimes put to an expense to get rio
of. He stated that $40 per acre would bt
received by the farmer for his stalks
i after he had already received about z