Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-08

ing for warships also make it the cheap
est and most useful mat erial for the man
ufaeture Of smokesess powder. All such
powders are made ehy dissoiving guncotton
and nitro-glycerine,jn q, solvent and then
mixing them. Corn pitb makes a cheap
and successful guncotton, and a company
has recently been farmeds with capital OF OF
$40, 100000, to manpfacttre this form of
powder. The company works are located
in New Jersey, and are, now under opera
ton on government contracts.
humble cornstalk Is to ,be devoted. The
absorbent pith makes the, best sort of bath
brush. 1t has also been, used as packing
for steam pipes, beilerssT refrigerators and
car journals. The o fibrous portion OF the
stalk is manufactured into paper and paper
boxes and the residue, the leaves and the
outside of the stalks, is chopped up into
prepared food for horses and cattle, that
has been adopted fer the cavalry and artil-
lery of the United States army. All this
reads like the claims of a patent medicine
cure-aIl, but they have all been tried and
proved by practical experience: These
uses and others which will probably be
discovered raise the maize plant from the
position of nuisance to the farmer to one
Of proud Importance as source OF rev.
enue.
ployed in turning out the various products
mentioned above. The largest of them is
at Owensboro', KY. The others are at Rock
ford Ill.,, and Chester, Pa. Later in the
season another factory for the manufac-
ture of the navy product is to be opened
near Newport News, Va.
Special Machinery.
Since the whole process of this manu-
facture is new one, the machinery by
which it Is carried ON had to be especially
devised. The problems which 1t presented
baff1ed the inventor for some time but he
has at length succeeded in perfeoting ma
chinery which makes it possible to turn out
the finished products on large scale.
To be useful for manufacturing purposes,
ting, and must be thoroughly cured. After
stripping off the ears. the farmer hauls the
stalks to the factory, where they are paid
for at the rate of three dollars per ton
The piles of stalks. just as they come to
| the factory, are fed into big cutting ma
chimes, which chop them into short lengths
| Elevating shafts carry them to the roof OF
| the factory, where they pass over great
screens with fans to separate the leaves
| and lighter parts.
| An ingenious machine, with uprigh'
| knives, strips off the "shive." the hare
| outer portion of the stalk and the tough
| flbers that run lengthwise of the stem
| Only the soft inner portion is left.
| From the stripping machines the whole
| mass falls upon long travelling strips O.
canvas The elastic nature of the pitt
causes it to bound up and down on the can
| vas until it falls off into a receptacle pre-
| pared for 1t. The chopped up stalks ant
leaves go on to the end of the travelling
| curtains, where they are dumped into cribs
| The pith goes next to the compressor
| where it is packed to about one-fourth 1t
| former bulk. Even then it is so light tha
| only about three tons can be packed int
| an ordinary freight car. The other pro
ducts are carried away for mixture into tn
| prepared food In which they are used.
For a new industry the cornstalk bushes
| is remarkably active. By the end of
| decade the statistics of the cornstalk indus
try will probably be counted in millions, an
its influence in adding to the prosperity O
the great corn belt should be very marked