Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-11-15

~ 80 rev thnt II has scarcely mapped cut
its campaign II cntfrot work out the dc
eeIopmeiit of MI Of It's discoveries Hof
wen of NIL TINT look promising ~ com
| mrrciai proportions.
/. II has limited staff. ard works under
the special appropriations that are made
from time to time by Congress for ex-
pcrlmenfr with avrups, dyes, OF deny
drntion. Thus, If the bureau decided ~
develop its experiments OH the useh oi
corncobs, the funds for development
must come from the appropriation under
which the corncob experiments were mnde,
THE VALUABLE coHNcoB
Cornoohs, which are now usually
burned up, furnish good example of
wasted material. Government research
has shown that number Of products can
be made from cornoobs, among them
adhesive for fiber board sizing, paper and a
hgf-grade brown dye which sells for
$50 pound and can be made from cobe
for about l5cents. Some day the farmer
may be able 10 cell his eorneobs for very
good price, but il Is not likely that he
would ever be able TO extract dye or glue
from them himself, because TINT ~ q
proposition which demands develop
mcnt on fairly large scale 10 return sui
fictent profits. II would be obviously
ridiculous for n farmer 10 collect lew
baskets Of cobs into corner Of the barn
and try To produce corncob dye to compete
wi tn the product of big, sffleiently-niu
dye factory
The Bureau Of Chemistry Is IT present
working on a number Of experiment.
which, il later developed by its engineers,
would be of great service to the country.
For example. there are the tanning ex-
perimonts Farm hides generally sell Tor
considerably less than those put out by
big tanneries. because a lot - either not
so well-skinned anil preserved, or else
there are apt 10 be some carelessly tanned
hides. possibly with cuts ia them, 10 an
otherwise good assortment improper
tanning partly explains why some shoes
wear out so quickly The Bureau Of Chem
istry Is making study of improved meth
ods Of tanning and as n result Of its work
has got out bulletin telling how tp tan
hides Formerly this WIS as far os the
bureau could 10. But now, IL the Offlce of
DeveIaufnetft Work should turn its atten-
ton 90 the bureaus leather work, there
would he a fur better chance for the Gov
ernmenfs findings IT, be n practical nse
to the tanners and to the public.
Another line Of chemical research which
has already shown its results ~ utilization
Of inferior grades Of citrot1s fruits. Cal
iforDia ships East only the best oranges
ard lemons, because prices for Gull fruit
do not warrant shipping II any distance.
How 20 conserve the great quantities Of
slightly imperfect or small fruit has always
| been problem. But now, the California
laboratory Of the Bureau Of Chemistry
has shown that by using the peel for mar
rnalade and oil. and the lemons for citric
| acid and establishing the business on
q large scale, the Gull fruit can be utilized
Largely as a result NJ increased interest
| in conservation Of these imperfect fruits
| the price Of c,iil oranges and lemons has
! gore up from FIVE dollars 10 thirty dollar
ton, and four concerns have started r
manufacture by-products Of citrous fruit
These are two Of the many experiment.
which the bureau il making and which
the Office Of Development Work could
promote with profit To the country Th'
main difficulty so often associated with
now Government projects, In To get Con
gress 20 provide enough money for the
work TO be- really OF benefit.