The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-10-07

southern planter found his blus CAoAed
with this product ut the end Of the gin
ming season, and after he had set aside
enough to feed his cows, the rest was
hauled away by wagon and dumped on
waste lands, in an effort to get rid Of it.
The oil in the seed made Il Objectionable
for fertiliziug land. and for COW feed
when good butter was wanted Fifty
years ago it was orly bulky and useless
garbage In 1870 experiments showed
that when the oil was pressed out the
residue made good fertilizer. In 1850
some investigating cows ate the hulls and
meal, and proved their great value as
d cattle food. and I'm ten years more the
oil had become a staple food for human
ity The oil is now a substitute for olive
and cOd-liver oil, is used for Illuminating
is excellent for packing sardines, and
forms a large percentage OF packed lard
in the past year crushers paid SS9.oF, eco
for the cotton seed delivered at their
plants. and the products marketed IT a
price far beyond that
The disposition OF garbage, waste, and
street sweepinEs was once a great prob
lem for large cities Now it can be
made a source Of revenue. and when
properly managed, will more than pay
for the cleaning of the city. once it was
the custom for cities TO pay some one TO
take away the garbage Now each city
Of any size receives bids on the privilege
or disposes of it in its own way. greatly
10 the financial advantage OF the munich
pality. New YOrk's experiments have
been of interest 20 all the country. There
the garbage is collected, the liquid pressed
out, and the residue dried. The dried
product is sold in powder as fertilizer at
S. a ton. The liquid is rich in grease,
eighteen tons Of oil being drawn Oft
each day. This is sold at cents a
pound in Holland and France. where it
is used as base for pomatums and per
fumes. The water expressed from the
garbage Is mixed with brown phosphate
rock, and has good commercial value
because OF the ammonia it holds.
Rubbish and trash I'm New York are
sold under bids each year. and the pres
ent contractor is said 10 make about
$4,000 a year from the rags paper. Old
bottles, rubber. &c that his Italian
piCkeTs deity lift from the great TevOlv-
ing belt on the sorting dumps. Such Of
the city rubbish Is burned in municipal
power houses and the power is sold 10
neighboriug factories. The ash from
these fires Is charged with ammonia and
potash. and for that reason is valuable
as a fertilizer for th- trees IN Central
Park, though it is more often sold 70
soap makers. who want the potash
Ashes were once a great bother to New
York. Up 10 five years ago they were
vr-frn r-rrf.f .F-Fr
into the sea Then il was decided to take
those not sold and use with other refuse
in land building. AS q result Ryker's
Island viii have sixty-thrce acres of
land when the entire surface is filed in,
and the city be richer by $4,000 in real
estate Much of the City's ashes is puT-
chased by construction companies for
use in making frepr0of floors in de-
partment stores. AS the city has over
100000 cubic yards "a year 10 dispose
Of, and the price paid Is from Y to 81
cents a cubic foot, 1t would be a profit
able commodity TO handle Ashes instead
Of sand make excellent lime mortar for
construction work on trepro0f buildings
If all the unbuTued coal were separated
from the ashes in a city OF 5000 iuhab-
itants it would net $500 year to that
city.
Sawdust was allowed to choke the
mill streams or deface the landscape for
q century or more before thrifty persons
discovered that it could be of use Dry
diStllatiOn now results in such products
as wood alcohol gas, acetic acid. and
oils. all of which have q market value
that makes the distillati0n a most profit
able enterprise Nodded in briauettes
with coal slack, or spent dye woods. saw
dust makes a good fuel. More recent ex-
periments have proved that when mixed
with proper aggluunative materials it
makes excellent artificial wood, and when
blood Is added. an imitation marble Is
the result Dust Of ivory and sawdust
make an imitation marble. and when
mixed with phosphate Of lime, sawdust
becomes a plastic material with which a
sculptor makes casts, and manufacturers
make a cheap kind of bas-relief. Mixed
with cement and plaster sawdust be-
comes a powerful protection against heat
OF cold, and when mixed with CLAW and
burned, the residue is a porous mass
from which the Arabs make TASKS for
cooling water. All these the nation is
trying with a zeal that will eventually
li-etAC bk' AbA La-I tt-AAs VI AtASttA unless
that lie back of us.
Stag from furnaces is no longer an in
cumbrance to the smelter It has been
found useful in the manufacture of por-
celain and bricks. il makes excellent
building stones, and had proved its dura-
buity as a r0ad-maklng material Tiles
and bottles can be made from it. and If
is a component part Of some cements. In
the earlier days Of coke making. the by
product gas. 5000 cubic feet for each ton
Of coke, was lost. Forty billion cubic feet
was wasted before it was made market
able Gas from iron blast furnaces is
now used 20 heat the furnaces, then
burned mixed with air Ammonia is
made from refuse from gas works. while
America may some day be driven TO the
economy of Paris. where 22l0 tons of
refuse are taken daily from the city cess
pools TO be made into ammonia. In the
great economy Of nature nothing should
be lost, and from the refuse of a great
city may come the ammonia that is a
base for perfumes and toilet waters.
Rags have been used over and over
asain for several centuries. but each year
brings greater ingenuity in their renewed
service. One-thiTd Of the wooden rags is