Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1908-11-06
PAPEROF CORNSTALKS'
Government Chemists Discover
New Process Of Making II.
is CHEAP TO MANUFACTURE.

Cut Of 80 Per Gent From Cost Of Mood
Pulp Paper Prsdietsd-Five Grades
Can Be Made-Turns Waste into
Revenue For Farmers.
Chemists Of the bureau Of forestry
and the bureau Of plant industry In
Washington, working in cooperation,
at last have solved the problem Of
how to turn the millions OF tons Of
cornstalks wasted every year in the
United States into a serviceable paper.
The facts were recently announced
at the bureau Of forestry, and they
show beyond doubt that the vast guam
tity Of material heretofore considered
yalueless and destroyed every year by
farmers can be utilized. thus saving
much of the remaining wood reserve
Of the country and bringing about the
manufacture OF paper from an annual
crop.
The first practicable samples Of this
new paper have been manufactured In
Washington by DR.. II. 8. Bristol and
his assistants at the new laboratory,
1850 Pennsylvania avenue southeast
They were shown at the bureau Offices
In i street, and they consist Of i've
grades, In five colors. One grade Is
a dark gray. thick and heavy, resem-
bling parchment. II Is almost as tough
as the historical sheepskln. There Is
q lighter gray OF the same character,
two shades of yellow and one Of white.
The latter are manufactured from the
hard outside part Of the stalk, and the
former from the interior or pith.
The yellow grades have much longer
hber, resembling paper made from cot
ton rags or linen. soft to the touch,
pliable and appear to have been made
from material entirely Of different
character from that used in the gray
qualities.
The chemists used the soda cooked
process, which many manufacturers
have discovered to be the best treat
ment for the finer grades Of wood pulp.
The cornstalk pulp can be cooked In
two or two and half hours as against
twelve to fourteen hours needed in
treating wood The surprising discov-
cry also was made that In the present
primitive steps Ia experimentation
cornstalk paper can be made almost as
eheaply as wood paper. though the lat
ter Industry has been developing
through fifty years. The belief is ex.
pressed that when proper machinery Is
brought out and the farmers grow corn
stalks in localities where 1t can be
moved cheaply to the mills OF the fu-
ture the cost win be fully 80 per cent
less than wood paper.
AT the present time, with wood at
IS cord, paper pulp can be manufac-
tured at $13 ton. With cornstalks at
s. ton, and. adding the cost Of bring
ing the stalks from nearby farms to
the Washington laboratory, pulp can
be manufactured at $14 a ton. These
figures are regarded as prophetic Of the
future, no new product ever having
been produced in the past at anywhere
near the price reached subsequently
with commercial development.
''No special growth of corn Is need
ed" said one Of the chemists, ''as our
experiments have shown that any kind
win do. We used common virginia
and Maryland Geld corn. That grown
and destroyed in Illinois and Indiana,
Maine and Texas, win do just as well.
''rhe discovery Is undoubtedly one Of
the most valuable of its kind made re-
Gently, II will add millions OF dollars
to the pockets OF farmers, put partial
stop to forest destruction and furnish
the country with an equally good but
much cheaper paper than that now in
USE"