Albuquerque evening citizen., 1906-12-27
BULLETIN OF OUR
COLLEGE ON
ALCOHOL
Prof. Hare Gives Interesting
Paper on Cactus as an
Alcohol Producer.

Industrial or denatured alcohol Is
a name applied to untaxed ethyl al
cohol obtained by the fermentation
OF starch. sugar and other fermen-
table carbohydrate matter of plants;
to which has been added some sub
stance, often methyl (wood) alcohol
that will render IT unfit for use as
a beverage without affecting its value
Tor use in the arts.
The recent federal act removing
the tax from this kind of alcohol has
resulted in a search for some plant
from which it can be prepared in
sufficient quantity to cheaper its
present cost Of production.
A list of the different sources from
which alcohol has been. or may poe
sibly be prepared is given i'm Farmers
Bulletin No. 26s recently issued from
the bureau of chemistry of United
states department OF agriculture. by
DR. H. w. Wiley.
From this bulletin It would seem
that Indian corn is at present the
cheapest. and most generally used
farm product in the United states
for the manufacture of alcohol DR..
Wiley estimates from the present
cost of the production of corn, that
alcohol should sell untaxed for about
40 cents per gallon.
The average yield of corn per acre
for the United States is 2S.S bushels.
At rs pounds per bushel this would
be a yield of about 1913 pounds.
About 40 per cent of corn is COM
posed of carbohydrates. or fermen-
table matter. nearly all of which Is
capable of undergoing alcoholic fer
mentation. Thus in l.613 pounds Of
corn there are 1,129 pounds of fer
mentable carbohydrates. Since this
form of matter i'm plants is capable
of producing about one half of its
weight of 95 per cent alcohol there
would be 564.5 pounds or SO.64 gal
Ions produced from one acre, which,
at so cents per gallon would be
worth $3225.
Recently cactus has been mention
ed as a possible source of alcohol,
and the chemical department of this
institution has had sevral inquiries
concerning it. But as we know of
no practical tests that have ever been
conducted to determine the possible
WELD of alcohol from cactus, we were
unable to answer these questions, eX-
cept by an estimate of the theoretical
quantity that might be produced by
fermentation of the carbohydrates in
this plant Such an estimate is Civ
en- below, but it must be remember
ed that two as yet undetermined and
very uncertain factors enter into
these calculations and the result OBJ
tanned should not be rated above
their expressed valuation
While for instance, analysis shows
that cactus contains about 10 per
: cent carbohydrates. 1t is not certain
that all of these are fermentable to
form alcohol Then. too the only
data that we. have concerning the
WELD of cactus per acre is from a
gentleman i'm San Antonio, Texas.
who has cultivated and fed the plant
for a number of years. He estimates
that if 1000 acres were cultivated
without harvesting for three years
then 100 tons could be obtained in
definitely from this area every day in
the year This. it may be seen is
equivalent to the enormous yield OF
$4,000 pounds per acre, and may be
far above the average yield that can
he secured.
If, however we estimate the theo-
retical amount of alcohol possible
from an acre of cactus. in the same
manner as was done above for corn.
assuming the yield of cactus to be
$4,000 pounds per acre. and all or
it's 10 per cent of carbohydrates to
be fermentable. we would obtain 500
pounds. or about 52i gallons of al
cohol which. at 40 cents per gallon
would be worth s20s.4o against S32.-
25 the value of the alcohol from an
acre of corn.
While. as before stated, the figures
given above for the yield of alcohol
an acre of cactus are i'm all prob
ability too high, they were calculated
from the most reliable data at pres
ent available and the only way by
which this interesting question can
be definitely decided is to carefully
determine lust what the yield of cae-
rus per acre will be under favorable
conditions If then the yield should
prove to be sufficiently large the rail-
road companies would doubtless be
willing to deliver "A car of these
plants to some manufacturers of al
cohoI to actually determine its value
for making this product on COM
mercial scale
1t may be that the fruits Of the
prickIey pear Will be found better
suited to the manufacture of alcohol
than the stems, il the yield per acre
can be found sufficiently large 10
warrant their production. We have
found that some varieties of this
fruit contain 10 to II per cent sugar
an of which is easily and readily con-
verted into alcohol. without the pre-
vtous malt or acid treatment neces-
sary to produce alcohol from starchy
substances.
II would therefore seem To us that,
from our present knowledge of the
subject the manufacture of indus
trial alcohol from cactus can reason
ably he considered within the range
OF possibilities.
II. +. HARE.
December "a. 1906.
Mrs BambinI. at &C. parlors, NO
200 West Railroad avenue. is pre-