The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1906-12-27
UTILIZING BY-PRODUcTs.

After a visit to the Agricultural De-
partment in Washington, d. c., Frank
G. Carpenter, the we'll known journal
list, ventures the prediction that 1--WE
shall make more during the next gener-
alton out of what goes to waste, than
we made a generation ago out of our
staple crops" 1t is a safe prediction
The writer can recall when, in ante
bellum days, cotton seed was used for
fuel in the mills or thrown away. 1t
has for many years been ground up for
the oil, which sometimes masquerades
as olive oil, and the residue and hulls
are pressed into cakes and sold for stock
food. The oil is used for lighting pur-
poses, for cooking and in the manufac-
ture of soap, glycerine and candles. 1t
has recently been discovered that the
fibre of the cotton plant will make the
finest of book paper, and that Indian
corn stalks have fibre which will
make every kind of paper and card
| board, SO that when the big pulp mills
have used up our forests we shall not
be without material for the manufac-
ture of paper.
The latest discovery of the depart
ment, says Mr.. Carpenter, is as to
cheap potash. This indispensable ar
ticle now costs about 800 ton, and
we are importing it at a cost of millions
of dollars. The discovery has been
| made that potash is mixed with the
granite of the Mills and in such way
| that a rock crushing machine can get
! it out. All that is needed is to grind
the granite to powder and let the potash
| loose. 1t can thus be produced at cost
| of little more than one cent per
pound, and Mr.. Carpenter says that
companies are now forming in New
! Jersey and Maryland to grind up gran
| lite for this purpose, and if successful
that other plants will probably be
| erected all over the country. Maine,
with its inexhaustible stores of granite,
| would seem to be and inviting field for
plants of this kind, and the crushed
granite would no doubt make excellent
road material. This is a more promls-
ing undertaking than the scheme for
extracting gold from sea water.
1t is generally known that the big di-
vidends of the beef trust result from
the utilization of by-products. 1t was
stated recently that they utilized every
thing about the hog but the squeal-
| that is left for the consumers. III the
canning factories in Chicago the blood
is worth $40 ton and is used to make
aibumen and other things and the bones
are cooked to extract the fat and gela-
! tine. Certain kinds are saved to make
II mbrella, tooth brush and knife han
dies. and other things in which hard
hone is needed. The hoofs of the cat
tie are nodded into ornaments, and the
tips of the horns are fiattened out and
eventually sold as combs and buttons.
| The backs of brushes are maze of horn
tips. and some of the finest hoofs are
l
shipped to Japan to be made into no.
tions which are again sold in the Unit
ed States.
Pepsin is produced from the stomach
of pigs, and pancreatine and other dl-
gestants as we'll. From the hoofs of
certain animals and other such refuse
co mes a poisonous stuff know as cya-
hide of potassium, which is used in
gold mining The bristles of the hog
| are saved cattle hair is used for
ca mers hair pencils and also to make
shoddy The bile goes to bookbinders
and the stomachs of the young calves
| to the cheese manufacturers.
This brief summary of what the de
partment is doing to further the pros
perity of the country may well be sup
plemented by this paragraph from MI
| Carpenters article:
The Agricultural Department is
| Uncle Sans Aladdin. 1t rubs its old
lamp and a horde of new genll 60 to
work for the nation. 1t is now looking
| up lll6 WASTE pldCtS VI Jul oiiN
making them blossom like the rose. 1t
brought macaroni wheat from the edge
| of the Sahara, and out of it built up
farming industry on the deserts OF the
west. 1t has thrust its long arm into
! the swamps of the south, and in Japan
ese rice is pulling millions out. BY its
discoveries as to the incubation OF the
soil it has made myriads of bacteria
work for man, and is now gathering
more fertilizer from the air than comes
from the nitrate fields of Chile and
Peru.
At a public injecting in this city on
Wednesday President FELLOWS of our
State university said that in - days the
university would be without funds, as
the State appropriation would end on
| Jan. 1, and to save the institution from
closing its doors it would be necessary
10 borrow money on which to carry its
work along until the legislature should
make the needed appropriation.-Ban-
gor Commercial.
In this speech President Fellows gave
a clear statement of the condition of the
university. Its appropriation from the
State, based upon providing for 200 stu
dents, will expire in a few days, While