Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-15
MAKING PAPER FROM STALKS
May Give Useful Product, but Nothing
Conclusive Established by
Chemists.

The chemists of the United States For
est service, cooperating with the plant
experts Of the Department Of Agriculture,
believe that they have found the clue to
a commercially practicable method of MAX
ing paper from cornstalks. At the present
time the American agricultural domain
produces annually millions on millions of
tons OF cornstalks, much Of which not only
becomes waste, but is actually an incum-
brance to the farmers.
1t is the desire to keep down the cost of
paper to the consumer that has inspired
Uncle Sam in this investigation. AS IS gen.
orally known, almost all the paper now
used. with the exception of the very finest
grades, is made from wood pulp, and with
the enormous drain on the forests the
price of wood for paper making has in
creased rapidly in the last few years.
Congress at its last session appropriated
$4,000 to be expended by the Department
of Agriculture in an effort to find salts
factory substitutes for wood pulp. In fun
therance of this project there has lately
been established in Washington a woo I
utilization laboratory, which is full
equipped with all the machinery and APP
pliances for experimental pulp manufac-
ture.
The common field variety of corn OBJ
tanned from farms in Virginia and Mary
land has been used. For this the govern
ment has paid IS a ton in addition to the
cost of transportation. 1t is estimated that
Will stalks at IS a ton the total cost of
the raw material for a ton of pulp will
aggregate $14, while an outlay of $13 is re-
quired for the raw material for a ton OF
wood pulp, with wood at its present price
IS a cord.
In the absence of opportunity for carry
ing on the manufacture of cornstalk pulp
on any extensive scale, the chemist of the
Forest service are unable as yet TO give
a more satisfactory comparison of costs.
They say, however. that even If II should
develop in actual practice that the cost Of
producing cornstalk paper is as great as
that of wood pulp paper, the value of the
experiments would not be lessened, since
the cost of wood pulp is advancing so
steadily that a product permanently avail
able at present prices will ere long be con-
sidered a boon by paper users.
Then. too, IS a ton fer constalks is rot
necessarily a fixed price. The government
officials have received letters from farmers
offering to supply stalks as low as SO a ton
1t has long been the custom to locate paper
mills near the source Of the raw material
anu II - III libBApbabAN NAbN "AAi "
stalk paper manufactures in the Corn
belt" Of the middle west 1t would be found
possible to reduce the cost of production
below present estimates.
The volume of correspondence that has
poured into the Department OF Agriculture
on this subject attests the interest OF the
farmers IN this prospective means of turn.
ing their now almost worthless cornstalks
into coin. Paper manufacturers, too, have
offered tho use Of their plants to try out
the scheme on a commercial scale, ard one
proprietor Of a large corn canning factory
has gone TO Washington within the last
few days to ascertain the advisabiity of
establishing a mill and producing cornstalk
paper as a by-product.
The government experiments havee pro-
duced from cornstalks paper of five diff
ferent tints and TWO general classes. Thick.
heavy paper suggestive of parchment is
produced from the pith of the stalks, while
a finer paper of longer fibre is obtained
from the hard, outside portions. The lat.
ter is seemingly equal in quality to the
test wood pulp grade. and would be suit
able for use. in books. etc. However. the
heavier paper Is quite brittle, ard either
new markets would have TO be cultIvates
for It, or else this grade of PUN would
have to be combined with scme other pulr
to produce paper conforming to IA, present
specifications OF cOnsumers.-New Yorl
Times,