The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1906-04-13
ALCOHOL FOR THE FARMER
GOVERNMENT NAY HELP FAR
SIER LIGHT AND WARM HONE.
Alcohol Easily Distilled Prom Various
Products OF the Farm and at
a Surprisingly Low Cost.

washington. relating 10 free alcohol
in the arts and manufactures, Secre-
tary Wilson, Of the department Of
agriculture. gave an interesting state
ment Of the Immense amount OF alcO-
hoI that can be easily reduced from
many products and by-prOducts OF
the farm. and favored the removal OF
the tax on that product 50 that the
farmers OF the nation might be en-
abled TO provide themselves, at a
small cost. with denaturized alcohol
for fuel and lighting purposes His
statement IS as follows
The question Of heating and light
I ing on the farm is becoming quite in
/ sistent In the prairie countries there
I is some coal, but the readily obtain
/ ed supply will become exhausted be-
I fore a very remote date Hard coal
/ taken out TO the pratr1eS IS expensive
! at all times, and very expensive quite
often. besides which, il is becoming
more and more expensive as time goes
I on. 50 that we must begin looking
I about for other sources of heating ana
/ lighting The starch and sugar plants
are the present source OF alcohol and
! will continue TO be- In Europe the
/ chief sources Of alcohol have been the
/ potato and the sugar beet by diStilla-
| ton, either directly or from their by
/ products. Other sources Of alcohol
/ which may be adVantageOusly utili-
! zed in the United States are the white
l potato OF the north. the sweet potato,
]
] iasseS from the sugar beet and the
I waste product from the stalk Of the
/ Indian corn at the time OF hardening
/ of the grain In this list may be in
Guided all plants that yield heavily OF
I starch or sugar.
The term alcohol as I am using it
does not apply to any alcoholic bev-
/ erage, but to pure or denatured alcO-
I hOl in a form suitable for technical
/ uses and SO mixed with other ingre III
! ents that il cannot be used as a bev-
| erage. Sugar and starch, on fermen-
I tatiOn, yield about half their weight
as absolute alcohol In practice a
/ smaller quantity is obtained because
| Of certain by-pTOductS. such as acids,
I which are produced during the fer
/ mentatiOn OF sugar and starch. Prac-
Z ticaIly il may be said that As per
cent of the raw material-that is, the
sugar or Starch-iS obtained as alcO-
/ hOL
/ 1t is becoming an interesting qUes-
/ ton in what direction the people will
turn for heating and lighting, cOnsid-
/ ering the increasing price Of coal and
the diminishing supplies OF wood An
acre OF land which produces so
bushels OF corn, nearly $500 pounds,
/ will furnish 1850 pounds Of fermen-t
able matter; that is. starch and sugar
! together. FOrty-five percent Of this
/ will be obtained as absolute alcohol,
namely. $50 pounds A gallon Of alb
sOIute alcohol weighs 6-S pounds;
| therefore an acre OF corn would pro
duce about $50 gallons Of absolute
alcohol Commercial alcohol is about
% per cent pure so that approx
I mately an acre Of Indian corn pro-
ducing 80 bushels would make about
40 gallons OF commercial alcohol
IF we assume the average crop OF
potatoes to be 500 bushels. or $4,000
pounds. il would produce $500
pounds Of fermentable matter, since
the potato contains an average Of 20
=
produce ], 500 pounds Of absolute al
cOhOl, or about 255 gallons OF COM
mercial alcohol. shown that an acre
Of potatoes produces much more al
cOhOl than an acre Of corn
But there is another consideration
with regard to the potato as a source
of alcohol We raise potatoes for hu-
man food and for scarcely any other
purpose. We plant the potato that
has the finest flavor for the table, in
dependent Of its yield per acre Were
we raising potatoes for the purpose OF
making alcohol. these conditions
would not be regarded The variety
OF potato that would give the largest
yield per acre would be plantd- Where
potatoes are used as cattle food, as
they are in many foreign countries,
varieties Of this kind are TesOrted to,
and there would be no difficulty what
ever in doubling the z55 gallons per
acre receivable from the present av-
erage yield OF potatoes So that 1t
would be within bounds to say that
500 gallons Of alcohol can be had
from sd acre Of potatoes
Potatoes, moreover, are a CONNER
ciaI crop only when within a certain
distance OF market At the average
price at which the potato sells it can
be hauled only a short DISTANCE, but
when looking to it as source Of heat
ing and lighting. factories would be
erected in country neighbOrhOOds and
the potato would then be grown for
its largest possible yield Of alcOhOl
The sweet potato and the yam contain
about the same quantity OF ferment-
able matter and would yield equiva-
lent quantities Of alcohol.
so looking at this subject from the
agricultural standpoint, we find that
the northern states could readily de-
pend upon the white potato as a
ern states upon the yam and the sweet
potato. and the western states upon
the sugar beet The extensive irriga-
ton projects now being carried on by
the United States government Will re-
suit in watering lands that viii pro-
duce sugar beetS more probably. per
hapS, than any other crop The mo-
Iasses can be readily turned into al
cOhOl-
The stalks Of Indian corn, at the
time when the grain is sufficiently
hardened to be perfectly sound. when
harvested contain a large quantity Of
could be utilized at that time for the
manufacture Of alcohol, they would
produces a quantity which would be
almost Incredibly large- There would
be approximately ten tons Of stalks
TO the acre Of Indian corn yielding so
/ bushels the acre, or 10000 pounds,
and Of this at least II per cent, or
nearly 2.4OO pounds. is feFmentable
matter, As per cent OF which can be
| recovered as alcohol, equivalent TO
I,0SO pounds OF absolute alcohol. or
approximately 10 gallons OF CONNER
cial alcohol The average yield Of
| Indian corn IS only about one-half the
above. but the heavier corn lands OF
the country that would be used for
] growing corn for alcohol average
easily 80 Bushels to the acre 1t is
safe to say that the average amount
OF sugar and stsrch Which goes to
waste in the stalks OF Indian corn an
nually would make 100 gallons Of
commercial alcohol per acre. When
we consider the vast number OF acres
I cultivated in Indian corn. approx
mately 100. 600, Zoo, il is seen that the
quantity OF alcohol that is lost in the
stalks is so large as 70 be almost be
I yond the grasp OF our conception
stOf course, il must be remembered
that there would be very great dim
cuIties attending the saving OF these