The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-02-03


done in showing that starch, which,
would be acceptable to the mills
could be manufactured from swe> It
potatoes. He said that Col. Harding
had spent the latter years Of his life
working on the problem.
In telling of the cost of establishing
q starch factory. he said the machin-
cry would cost $4,000 and the build
ing would cost $4,000 or $4,000 more,
without the cost Of the site. A plant
OF this size will manufacture 1000
bushels of potatoes in twenty.f four
hours. producing $4,000 pounds of
starch at cents per pound, a very
conservative estimate. This starch
could easily be disposed of to the cot
ton factories in this and adjacent
States. He estimated the cost of an
acre of potatoes at $40 to $25 and the
production at 200 bushels. These
could be sold to the factory at forty
cents bushel, which would give q
gain Of SIS an acre for the crop. All
Of DR.. Longs estimates were very con-
servative. 1t Is probable that the per
centage of yield would be larger and
the profit on the crop therefore
larger than he stated.
Mr., Remsners In his remarks stat
Cd that potato starch was worth one
to one and a-half cents a pound more
than corn starch. He said that Glenn
son College had merely put up a small
plant to see If the mills wanted to
use the starch, and it was found that
they preferred the potato starch,
because it penetrates the warp Of the
cloth better and gives more weight.
However Mr.. Remmers said that he
did not think that it would pay unIcss
a larger factory than that at Glenn
son was established to manufacture
the starch for commercial purposes,
carrying out the idea advanced by
Clemson College, which had bean
shown to be profitable. He referred
TO previous visit through this coan-
try. when he had endeavored to have
starch factory established, but un-
successfully.
He said he had made cassava
starch in Florida but because the
plant could not be grown successful
ly, the plant could not succeed. He
knew that potatoes could be grown
here in sufficient quantities to support
the starch factory and he thought
that the sweet potato starch would
soon command a higher price. He
stated that q certain kind Of sweet DO
tato, the name had escaped his men,
ory, was the best. as it contained
more starch than any other kind and
was more productive. He said the
average per cent. of starch in sweet
potatoes was about 90 per cent. but
went as high as q per cent. some
tines In his estimates he had talk
en- ~ as an average per cent. He
He said that in making starch the in
dustry should be developed as the
beet sugar industry had been.
He said that the factory should
nave forty-hOrse power engine and a
large quantity OF water was necessary.
about 100000 gallons daily. From
the 1000 bushels of potatoes manu-
factured eight tons of refuse could he
converted into and sold as cattle
feed. These by-products would be
valued at SIS to $50 a ton and could
be placed i'm silos. When the farm
ers brought their potatoes, they coul.,
haul off tha '-products. He advis-
ed against ne installation of smaller
machinery than he had stated, as il
would cost practically as much and
the consumption would no, be nearly
so great.
In showing that this is n good
timc to establish such "actorv. Mr.
Remmers stated that much starch
mad been imported into this country
from Germany before the war. Now
and after tho war Germany would
largely coniine it's efforts to raising
rye and 1T would consume practical
ly all of tho starch itself which il
manufactured
After general discussion o. the
'ha'ter' IN which many questions were
asked Dr. Long and DR.. Remmers, It
was decided to investigate the mat.