The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1906-08-09
MORE ABOUT ALCOHOL.
Professor Wiley Makes Plain Important
Points on Denatured Article.

MOh AfSoCI ALCOhOL
Professor Wiley Makes Plain Important
Points on Denatured Article.
Now that the denatured alcohol bill
has become a law and will take effect
Jan. i. 1907, the question will 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 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
small way upon the farm. No differ
ence how small the quantity of alco-
hol may be, 1t cannot be manufactured
except under the supervision OF a
revenue official, and the manufacturer
must pay the salary and expenses of
this official: at least it is likely that
he will be required to do so under the
regulations. Thus in the future the
manufacture Of alcohol, as at the
present, will probably be conducted
in large establishments. The princi-
pie involved is exactly the same as
that employed in the manufacture OF
beet sugar, which, it is found, is i'm
practicable in a small way. Central
factories are necessary for the success
Of the sugar industry, and central dis
tilleries will be necessary in the alco-
hol industry.
We are inclined to believe that this
advice is timely and important, for
the successful manufacturer of alcohol
requires a 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
of q central distillery in a good local
ity accessible to farmers. In these
distilleries alcohol can be most eco
nOmically made from the raw mater
ials 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 distiller-
les. Some of the figures which he
gives as his estimate on the producing
power of certain crops are quite be-
yond ones comprehension. Figuring
the corn crop on the basis of fifty
bushels Of corn to the acre, he says
there would be approximately ten tons
of stalks to the acre. Corn, which If
utilized when sufficiently ripe would
yield 2, 400 pounds of fermentab BILE mat
ter, would produce ITO gallons of CON-
mercial alcohol. 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-and it is APPROX
imately 100000 900 acres-it can read
lily be seen that the amount of CON-
mercial alcohol produced from the
average 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
present time, from the fact that pota
toes for alcohol need not be of the
best quality Or finest flavor; in fact,
many thousand bushels that now vir
tually go 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 plant
ing of more productive varieties with
out taking into consideration their
quality.