The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1911-08-21
WHY CORN is KING.
Some Of Uses TO Which Crop of Four
Billion Bushels is Put.

| the livestock industry in the United
States, especially hog raising.
Corn is used directly for food by
thousands of people, in the form OF
cornbread. hominy and many excel
lent dishes. Indirectly il is the food
for the entire meat-eating world. but
aside from its food uses there are
many others that many people have
never heard about.
People who like TO talk in millions
and billions should revel in discussing
the corn crop. Corn was the gift of
the New World TO the Old. Ii prob
ably originated in Mexico. Now it is
grown all over the world and the aver
age annual crop is about four billion
bushels. The United States furnishes
two thirds of that total
Every yearii some new use is found
for corn. In the old days there were
only two ways to dispose of Ito feed
II to cattle and in the shape of corn
meal to some people. The meal mad
TO be for local consumption. because
when made, as 1t then was from the
whole kernel it soon became rancid.
From the germ, which is separated
from the kernel in the milling process,
the. oil f. extracted by chemical and
mechanical processes and constitutes
product which is coming into use
in the manufacture of paint.
The vulcanized oil is used extensive
ly i'm surfacing linoleum and oil cloth
and is applied to a number of otner
purposes. After the oil is extracted
there is left valuable resduum
known as corn oil cake. which is sold
here and abroad and is used in the
fattening of sheep and other animals.
Nearly fifty million pounds of this
material are annually shipped to Great
Britain and Germany and there used
by farmers. who find 1t cheaper than
materials of similar nature which
they can grow at home.
A corn product which is coming in
TO extensive use Is glucose, made from
starch, water and sulphuric acid. Con-
fectioners use large quantities of glu-
cose. which is a colorless swedish
syrup useful as food when properly
taken. Nearly two hundred million
pounds Of glucose are sent out of this
country each year TO all parts of the
world
From cornstarch also comes dextrin
If several kinds. used extensively III
the making of glue. paste and mucil-
age When one liks postage staml
one gets a taste of dextrin, favored
often with some harmless preserva-
tive.
one other use of corn may be men
toned as in all probability having al
important bearing on future industrial
pursuits. Denatured alcohol is already
extensively manufactured from corn
both at home and abroad. Despite th'
advancing price Of the grain II is still
one of the most economical sources o.
n product which under different lega
restrictions from those now In exist
ence may become important Us
source of heat, light and power IN
homes, especially farm homes.
Experiments conducted here ant
abroad demonstrated that bulkhead'
CONSTRUCTED of cornstalks were nearly
impervious to water when a shot pass
ed through them. Some of the larges
ships are now protected with pei
of corn pith celulose made Largely
from, corn grown in the Ohio valley
1.-THE same material, or modified forms
of 1t, is used in the manufacture o
high explosives, such as guncotton AM
suekeless powder. r
Yyroxylin varnish, another materla
made from cellulose, is n very usefu
product manufactured in connectio
with the other products just mention
ed.
| From time To time the attention 9
1.-The country has been directed towar
1.-THE vanishing supply of wood Tot III
manufacture of paper pulp. Narrou
attempts have been made TO manuiac
ture paper from other materials and
rood many years ago samples OF I'M
naper were produced from cornstalk
The processes as followed were, how
ever not economical, so that the wor
| was abandoned. More recently ne
hight has been thrown on the subjec
Through improved methods and pre-
cesses.
Like the grain the stalks contain
number of products which can be seps
rated under proper chemical, physic
and mechanical processes. 1t has bee
demonstrated that form of low graz
o molasses can be taken from cornstall
without i'm any way detracting fro
:. their value for the manufacture of pa
: per.
4 In passing 1t would he well to ca
: attention to another part OF the col
plant which is considered a more
: less useless thing by the farmer f,
8 cob.
% with the increased knowledge whiC
r. experimental work has developed
d the agricultural colleges and station
X the usefulness of this material as
stock food when ground In connecti
g with grain has been shown.
a Large quantities therefore of groul