The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1906-09-13
THE GRANGE
Conducted by
j. ". BARROW. Chatham. n. Y,
Press Correspondent NetJ Y0rI; State
Grange
OENATUREO ALCOHOL,
Il VIII Hardly Prove Profitable I
Manufacture 1t on the Fnrn,

Il VIII Hardly Prove Profitable to
Manufacture 1t on the Farm.
Now that the denatured alcohol bill
has become a law and will take effect
Jan. l, 1907, the question will dou
less be raised among farmers if it 49,
be possible for them to manufacture
alcohol from their various farm prod
ucts in individual distilleries upon the
farm. They have been led to suppose,
and rightly, that denatured alcohol can
be manufactured from many farm
products, and therefore it will create
a new market for their products.
Professor II. w. Wiley, chemist of
the department Of agriculture, says
that it will hardly prove profitable to
undertake to manufacture alcohol in
a small way upon the farm. No diff
ference how small the quantity of al
cOhOl may be, it cannot be manufac-
tured except under the supervision of
a revenue official, and the manufac-
turer must pay the salary and ex-
penses of this official; at least it is
likely that he will be required to do so
under the regulations. Thus in the fu-
ture the manufacture of alcohol, as at
the present, will probably be conducted
In large establishments. The principle
involved is exactly the same as that
employed in the manufacture of beet
sugar which, it is found, is imprac-
ticable in a small way. Central fac
tories are necessary for the success of
the sugar industry and central distil-
leries will be necessary in the alcohol
industry.
We are inclined to believe that this
advice is timely and important, for the
successful manufacturer of alcohol re
quires thorough knowledge of the
chemistry of the process and a high
degree of technical skill. and no doubt
Professor Wiley is correct in saying
that the successful practice of the fu-
ture will consist of the establishment
ity accessible to farmers. In these dis
tilleries alcohol can be most econom-
ically made from the raw materials
which the farmers furnish.
Secretary Wilson looks with much
encouragement upon the benefits which
the farmers are likely to reap from the
sale of products TO these distilleries
Some of the figures which he gives as
his estimate on the producing power
of certain crops are quite beyond ones
comprehension. Figuring the corn crop
on the basis Of fifty bushels of corn
to the acre, he says there would be ap-
prOXimately ten tons of stalks to the
acre. Corn which if utilized when
sufficiently ripe would yield 240O
pounds of fermentable matter would
produce 10 gallons of commercial 80
cohol. While fifty bushels is n q
than the average yield per acre at
the present time, yet this yield could
be largely increased in the west on
the heavier corn lands, and when
the vast acreage of corn in the United
States is considered it is approx
imately 100,000,000 acres-it can read
lily be seen that the amount of COM
mercial alcohol produced from the av-
erage of ten tons of stalks per acre
would be quite incomprehensible.
Potatoes also would yield a very
large product and the potato crop
would be vastly larger than at the pres
ent time, from the fact that potatoes
for alcohol need not be of the best
quality or finest flavor; in fact, many
thousand bushels that now virtually
so to waste could be utilized, and yet,
he says, from the present acreage the
average yield of potatoes should
give 255 gallons of commercial alcohol
per acre, and he believes the amount
would be doubled by the planting of
more productive varieties without TAX
ing into consideration their quality.