The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-11-11
Frederic Haskin's Letter
A Bureau Of Applied Science.

cannot work out the de, a,,,
OF all it's discoveries nor eyse y
all that look promising an cos =
mercial propositions.
1t has q limited stat, and v.,
under the special appropriate.
that are made from time To- tina -
congress for experiments ~,
syrup, dyes, or dehydration ~.
II the bureau decides to deyelon =.
experiments on the uses Of INV
cobs, the funds for deyelosm.s.
must come from the approprhti.n ]
under which the corncob eInsr \
ments were made.
The Valuable CcrneoA
Corncobs, which are now usnsn.
burned up, furnish a good examrl,
Of wasted material, Governmsnt -
search has shown that a numhe, ~
products can be made from CON
cobs, among them adhesive for A.,
board sizing, paper and a hirs
grade brown dye which sells 4.
$40 a pound and can be made FINN
cobs for about Is cents. Some d,r
! the farmer may be able to sell NJ,
corncobs for a very good price. NM
it is not likely that he would eva,
be able to extract dye or glue from
them himself. because that IA
proposition which demands develo..
ment on a fairly large scale to ~.
turn sufficient profits. 1t would \.
obviously ridiculous for a farmer IA
collect few baskets of cobs in,o
a corner of the barn and try to pr,.
duce corncob dye to compete with
the product of a big. efficiently.r,a
dye factory y
The bureau of chemistry Is al
present working on a number OF
experiments which. if later devel.
oped by its engineers, would be Of
great service to the country. For
example, there are the tanning e1.
periments. Farm hides generally
sell for considerably less than those
put out by big tanneries. because a
I lot is either not so we'll skinned
! and preserved, or else there are
apt to be some carelessly tanned
hides. possibly with cuts in them.
in an otherwise good assortment
| Improper tanning explains WHY
some shoes wear out so quickly.
The bureau of chemistry is making
a study of improved methods Of
tanning and as result of its work
has gotten out a bulletin telling how
to tan hides. Formerly this was
/ as far as the bureau could 90. But,
now, il the Office of development
} work should turn its attention to
the bureaus leather work, there
would be a far better chance for the
: government findings to be OF prac-
: tical, use to the tanners and to the
public.
Another line of chemical research
, which has already shown its re-
: suits is the utilization of inferior
; grades of citrous fruits. California
/ ships east only the best oranges
| and lemons, because prices for Gull
;. fruit do not warrant shipping ii an!
t distance. How to conserve The
: great quantities OF slightly imper'
} feet or small fruit has always bees
. a problem. But. now. the California
e laboratory of the bureau of chemis
1 try has shown that by using tn
: peel for marmalade and oil. and TIL
S lemons for citric acid, and estab
= fishing the business on largI
v scale, the Gull fruit can be utilized
|, Largely as a result of increased IN
0 terest in conservation of these i'm.
0 perfect fruits the prices OF Gull
t oranges and lemons has gone "
s from S. to $50 ton. and four COZ
t Germs have started to manufactur
Il by-products of citrous fruit.
e These are two of the many expef
a iments which the bureau is max
d ing and which the Office of develop
n ment work could promote VIII
e profit to the country. The mai
difficulty. so often associated witt
s new government projects, is to &c
: congress to provide enough none
It for the work to be really OF benen'