The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-06-04
ILLINOIS CORN In
THE COTTON PALACE.
Interesting Display of Corr

Interesting Display of Corn
Products at the Charleston
Exposition.
Mr.. William Banks, in charge Of the
Exposition Bureau of The State, has
contributed o most interesting descrip-
ton of the Illinois corn exhibit as fol-
lows:
Folks have gotten so smart these
days that they a make rubber, table
syrup, olive oil, ETC., ad infinltum, out
of a common old nubbin. Some time
ago the readers of The State were told
of the wonderful progress the South
has made in the way of getting prod
ucts from the cotton seed, but the ex-
hibit which The great State of Illinois
has sent to the Exposition shows that
from the corn kernels. This is the
unitarian age, exempliGed not only in
the great number of products made
from the corn kernels, but in the fact
that even the cob is used for CONNER
cial purposes after being ground up,
and the pith of the stalk Is used TO
make a cellulose which is preferable to
pitch in calking the inside of seagoing
vessels.
A prominent fruit merchant in Char
lesion states that there are t%hlrty-tive
or more products which may be OBJ
tanned from the banana, and proved
his assertion by showing where a
wealthy gentleman had given a dinner
of several courses in which the bread,
and many other dishes except meats
had been prepared from products of
the banana. "But that is another
story"
One of the first things TO attract the
attention of the visitors to the Illinois
exhibit IN the Cotton Palace are the
"corn pictures," 80 called because they
are made of corn grain, the pith of the
corn stalk and the manicolored boards
OF grasses and small grains. Like the
celebrated " cotton pictures" in the
Greenville exhibit in the Woman's
building, these corn pictures are works
of art, yet of a different kind. The
cotton pictures are dainty, filmy and
beautiful, while the corn pictures are
of much larger proportions and yet
are perfect and very attractive. Each
of these pictures is about seven feet
long.
One represents q farm scene in IL
linois in 1850, and the other shows an
up.to-date Illinois farm. In the for.
mer the pioneer is shown clearing out q
place for his log cabin home. The re.
presentation of cattle, horses, ETC., is
a fine piece of work. In the scene on
a farm in 1900 a stylish young lady is
shown in q trap to Which. a spirited
horse is doing fancy time on the fine
highway while in the background the
old log cabin has given place to a pre-
~tentious frame dwelling, and the
pioneer is succeeded by a prosperous
looking individual who is busily en-
gagged in looking after his windmill and
his fine equipment of farm machinery.
So the pictures are typical of the prog
ress of the great Middle West as we'll
as illustrative of the skill with which
the young men attached the corn kerr
nels and bit of cob, pith and grass
seeds 10 the canvass in such q way that
the element or proportion is maintain
ed TO a wonderful degree, and yet the
whole presents as perfect a picture as
could have been made with the crave
or the brush.
The decorations of the booth were
made by Messrs. Goebel and Gartner,
who are in charge Of the exhibit,
These decorations are not only in good
taste, but are very skilfully wrought.
Out of grass seeds of different colors
are fashioned parrots and other birds,
while conspicuous in the whole are two
immense placards stating that Illinois
produces every year 284 ,0OO, 900
bushels of corn, or nearly one.seventh
of the whole crop of this country. or
this amount, Illinois uses zig, zoo, 900
bushels for the manufacture of COM
mercial products. This statement
seems almost incredible, but is abso-
lutely correct.
The exhibit of corn is itself very i'm.
teresting. There are dozens of ears
which have been exhibited IN MANY
fairs and have taken the blue ribbons.
The perfect ear, as declared by the
Peoria corn fair, ls ten inches long,
measures seven inches around at the
butt, the rows of Kernels must be in
good alignment, and the fruit is ninety
per cent. of the whole. The grains at
the n and at the butt are to be well
developed. And just here MI. Goebel
says that the farmers in this country
make a mistake, for they lop off the
ends of the ears and plant the grain
which is gotten from the middle of the |
ear. He says that the farmers of the |
Middle West have reduced corn plant
ing to such a science that they can
breed the corn just as they breed and
c~rossbreed stock. BY breeding they
get more starch and less oil, or more
oil and less starch, just as they desire.
There are two fundamental products
OF the corn kernel-oil being obtained
from the tender germ or life.giving
heart inside of the kernel, and starch
being the main product of the hard
part OF the kernel. There Is no waste.
Even the skin which encloses the kerr
mel is a rough grade of bran which is
used ~ a base with which to mix in
gradients for cattle feed. There lie