The Brinkley argus., 1910-12-02
EUn1IE hU UUD
SunfIower Seed Is Allowed to Go
 to Waste iil Missouri.
OH is More Edible Than That of Cot ton and Almost Equal to Olives Stalks Make Excellent
 Fuel

Jefferson City Mo-" Millions of pounds of sunfowe4 seed gre allowed to go to waste in Missouri annually, simply because it is not generally known that they can be used for food for man, as well as animals, and there fore have a commercial value says
 the 1910 Red Book of the bureau of labor and statistics. Figures made public by Labor Commissioner J. c. A. Hitler show that in the year 1909 about 10000 pounds of the seeds were sent to market by Missouri's 114 coun
 ties and that about s4,000 was. real ixsd by the sale of the same
 l While originally a native of tropi- | cal America the sunflower is now found growing more or less wild in all l cultivable portions of the world, and l especially in south and central Eu- 1 rope, seeds having been carried there from America and planted by several 1 sixteenth century royers, who took ! a fancy to the large flower both for 1 it's peculiar wild beauty and that it had a food value, reads the Red
 Book chapter on this interesting | subject
 Tn Russia the sunfower seed is prepared and eaten just like Ameri- cans do peanuts. The poorer classes l often eat the seeds raw, the only draw 1 back to this style Of turning them into l palatable article being the diff culty of easily separating the kernel l frsm the hull.
 Tn Missouri the suufower is found l everywhere, growing in vacant city
 lots and amid rubbish as well as in ! the rich lands of the southeastern section of the state and in the foot l hills of the Ozarks Goats thrive an the plant, eating from the seeds and | petals down to the coarse rough stalks
 and the roots The seed Is often used, mixed with other seed, as feed for poultry, and parrots especially enjoy
 the menu, forming a food which was
 a mainstay for them in tropical re- gions.
 The sunflower counties in Missouri that is, the ones which marketed the l most seed ill 19J9." according to the
 figures of Experimenting Statistician I A. T. Edmonston of the labor bureau, sare Butler, St. Charles. St. Louis, ! Jackson, Ste. Genevieve, Buchanan,
 Jasper and Mississippi. probably be-
 cause they are closer to the larger cit les than the other counties. It is but the question of time before all vacant lands of this state, not of great value for cultivation or pasture purposes, will be planted with sunflower seed
 and turned into use in that way,
 An oi! closely resembling olive oil, I but of course inferior in quality, Is made by pressing sunf1ower seeds. It
 is very palatable, easily digested, and
 has high food value. In this re- spect it is said to be superior to our l cotton-seed oil, which is put to sol many uses in domestic life and in art s~nd science
 I s.In portions of Europe a bouilli for infant is made from the sunfiower seed. On religious days, when meat must be abstained from, the seed is frely used as an article of diet
 ''In fact, sunflower oil is used for paints, taking the place of linseed oil. and when properly refined and pre- pared is almost as valuable" I eThe flower is full of the substances l which make honey. and therefore Is l an article of food for bees. The stalks and leaves and flower petals make I excellent fodder for cattle. As fuel the stalks and leaves have high value in sections where wood is scarce and not too great a degree of heat IS re- | ouired. An acre of sunflowers will | yield several cords of wood fuel With ont considering the value of the | seed It is estimated that 50 bush els of seed can be grown on an acre
 of ground. bushel of seed yields
 a gallon of oil. Figuring that the ol! is as valuable as the cotton-seed va
 rietv which in 1909 averaged about I 40 cents. one acre of sunfiower seed will produce oil forth SEQ, which means that the farmers share VIII De
 ahout SIP and the manufacturers the
 renajnder. out of which sums both
 would of course meet all thelr ex- pepses.
 "AS SulltiOWerS can easily De Sio"i l in corners and in lands of little use
 for anything else, it would pay to nroduce more The oil can be used like cotton-seed oil. in the manufac-
 u,re of oleomargarine and several oth-
 CT cooking preparations.
 "The sunlower is freely used TOT
 many purposes in China. The fiber
 of the stalk, which has great strength. is woven into fabrics, some of which
 when properly colored and prepared
 have a silky feel and appearance 1 Sucb use could also be made of the fiber here. ;.
 "Jp tropical America the plant at
 tains a height of 20 feet and has
 flower over a foot ir diameter. Tn
 Missouri it grows sometimes to ten fact with flowers in proportion. The
 future will develop other uses for the
 sunflower-