Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-02
NEW USES FOR CORNSTALKS
Science Adds Millions TO the Wealth Of
Western Farmers
GREAT VALUE OF The BY-PR00uCTs
Stalk Considered ns Valuable rs the
Grain-Income of the Farmers
Vastly Increased by the
Discoveries.

Value OIL MS COTn CTop pIaSbiSahS
with the huskiug of the corn What was left
was worth perhaps sixty cents an acre as
fodder rather under that figure than over 1t
as a rule Science, ever busy seeking uses for
by-products, sought to make sugar and al
cohol from the stalk Of the corn, but un- |
availngly. Now, however, experiments
along different lines have established the
value of the by-products Of the corn crop as
probably second to no agricultural product
OF a similar nature grown in this country
aud has almost If not quite doubled the re-
ceipts OF tho corn growers, as the stalk is
made practically as valuable as the grain
There Is now a home market where the far-
mer can get from SO to S. ton for corn
stalks; that is from $6 to s12 per acre for
what has hitherto brought him In sixty
cents at best The American Agrculturaiist,
which treats of this new industry In lead
ing article, declares it to be one of the most
important departures in industrial history.
Uses of Cornstallss.
1t gives the following list of what is made
from corn stalks:
1. Cellulose for packing cofferdams on
battleships, this preventing them from sink
ing when pierced by balls or shells.
2. Pyroxyliu varnish, a liquid form of
cellulose, the uses Of which are practically
unlimited
3. Cellulose used for nitrating purposes
for making smokeless powder and other high
explosives, for both small and great arms,
as we'll as purposes for which dynamite or
all other explosives are required in various
forms and degrees Of strength.
4. Cellulose for packing, it being the most
| perfect non conductor known against heat
or electricity, jars or blows.
| ,,,ly onI
made therefrom, both alone and mixed with
other grades CT paper stock.
g. Stock food made from fine ground outer
shells or shives of corn stalks and also from
| the nodes or joints. The leaves and tassels
| also furnish a shredded or baled fodder.
| Z. Mixed feed for stock, containing fine
ground shells or shives as base. and In ad-
dition thereto various nitrogenous meals and
concentrated food substances, or blood, mo-
| lasses, distllery and glucose refuse, sugar
beet pulp, apple pomace and other by-prod-
ucts.
s. Poultry foods OF two types, namely
type /, containing dominant nitrogenous
factor for laying hens, and No. 2, containing
dominant carbohydrate factor for fattening
purposes.
Percentage of Utilities.
: The stalk Of the maize plant, or American
corn, Is mdQe up dS 1UllOWS, Ou d DdslS Vi lUu
pounds of air-dried stalks stripped Of leaves
and tassels: Twenty-six pounds Of nodes or
joints, twenty pounds Of pith, coarse and
fine, and ffty-fo pounds OF shells or shives.
The nodes contain on an average 33 per cent
of pure cellulose, the pith 36 per cent and the
shives 40 per cent. This corn-pith cellulose
is Of so great value in naval warfare that
Lewis Nixon, the naval constructor, has de-
clared it to be of much Importance as the
development Of Harveyized armor and
smokeless powder. Cofferdams along the
side Of vessel, when tightly packed with
maize pith to thickness of three feet, will
not leak when perforated with shells or solid
, shot. When the cofferdam containing this
material is perforated by shot the elastic
ity of the tightly packed pith completely
closes the hole made by the projectile, sc
that the water cannot pass through. Natur-
ally some water must enter at the point oi
l perforation, but owing to the great capacity
of the pith to absorb water, it being able tc
hold more than twenty times its own weight
o when not pressed, the water that first enters
= is at once absorbed. THIS causes the pitt
y which is moistened to swell and thus close
more completely the aperture made by the
projectie. ...
The Columbia, New York and Olympia are
thus protected and many OF the new war.
try, Russia England and France are using
the new material instead of cocoanut fibre
which was formerly employed In the
manufacture of high explosives the corr
pth forms an excellent basis because o.
it's admirable keeping qualities. and high
class smokeless powders and dynamites ar,
now made from this product, which is sait
to be superior to cotton in that 1t is more
easily nitrated and cleaned.
In Peaceful Arts.
In the arts of peace the greatest valu,
of the corn pith at present is found in tn,
liquid form of the cellulose, known as py
rOxylin varnish, which Is utilized in hun
dreds Of ways. Nearly everything that 4
made from wood pulp can, 1t is said, be mad
from this material. Experiments are nov
under way looking to the manufacture of pa
per from cornstalk pulp. For one thing, /
is predicted that substance will be pro
duced from the woody covering Of the stalk
which will produce good quality of pape
at such price that 1t will be available TO
newspaper use. In the end 1t may be tha
the cornstalk will save the forests OF thi
country, which are being cut down for tn
consumption of the wood pulp mills TIL
uses of the cornstalk for packing and foo
are varied but too technical for discussio
| III IL newspaper. AS W W
ened up by this new market the AgricultuI
alist says:
1.-THE possibilities thus opened UP ar
prodigious. To add only a few dollars pc
acre to each one of the S0,000,c coo acres d.
voted to maize In the United States eac
year runs into a sum so fabulous as hard
to bear publication. But II 1t Is assume
that only the fields of the corn belt will
benefited those eight states, Kentucky, Obi
Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansa
and Nebraska alone average close to 80
600 900 acres under corn. II only So p
acre Is added to the value of the crop
this belt, 1t means the tidy sum of 10000
900 added to the farmers income"
A large plant is now turning out the
: products at Owensboro, KY, under the dire
lei tion Of Mark w. Marsden. who took out t
on first patent on cornstalk product in 1895, a.
lei other plants are now nearing complete
las at Linden, Ind, Peoria, ILL.,. and Newpc
News, Va.
led e., TRIES TO ROB SHOW WlND0