Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1906-10-11

DENATURED ALCOHOL.
1t VIII Hardly Prove Pronteble K
Manufacture 1t ON the EARN.

1t VIII Hardly Prove Profitable to.
Manufacture 1t ON the Farm.
Now that the denatured alcohol bill
has become a law and will take effect
Ian. 1, 1907, the question viii doubt
less be raised among farmers if it will
be possible for them to manufacture
alcohol from their various farm prod
ucts in individual distilleries upon the
farm. They have been led ts suppose,
and rightly, that denatnred alcohol can
be manufactured frsn many farm
products, and therefore it will create
new market for their products
Professor Fl. w. Wiley, chemist of
the department Of agriculture, says
that it will hardly prove profitable to
undertake to manufacture alcohol in
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
revenue official, and the manufac-
turer must pay the salary and ex-
penses of this official; at least 1t is
likely that he will be required to do so
under the regulations. Thus in the flu
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 ilnprac-
ticable in a small way. Central fac
tories are necessary for the success Of
the sugar industry, and central dist.l-
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 a thorough knowledge of the
chemistry Of the process and high
degree of technical skill, and no doubt
Professor Wiley is correct in saying
that the successful practice of the flu
ture viii consist of the establishment
of a central distillery In good local
ity accessible to farmers. In these dis
tilleries. alcohol can be most ec0nom-
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 distiileries.
Some of the figures which be 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 2,400
pounds of fermentable matter would
produce ITO gallons of commercial all
cohol. While fifty bushels is more
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 100,00O,OO0 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 very
large product and the potato crop
would be vastly larger than at the pres
emit time, from the fact that potatoes
| for alcohol need not be Of the best
! quality or finest favor; in fact, many
| thousand bushels that now virtually
! 90 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.