Evening star., 1923-09-09


dustries, improving the manu-
featuring processes in old
established industries and
finding new uses for culls and sur
plus stock, thereby increasing ag-
| ricultural production and making
! more economic and efficient use Of the
| food crops Of this country.
This picture of Uncle Sam waving
! Il magic wand, making new indus
tries to spring up to provide a de-
mand for crops that heretofore have
! been a drug on the market and piling
! up economic savings by brushing
aside the wrong manufacturing proc
| esses, has resulted from use of good
old d-fashioned horse sense.
! Chemists and other scientific men
had been making laboratory discov-
| cries that Hooked good" on paper
/ and in test tubes, but they were not
| worth anything to business and in
| dustry. because il would cost d lot
I of money to try them out, even when
| the scientific man succeeded in ex-
| planning his find In language that
, interested the business man. SO an
| industrial engineering service was set
up few months ago in the bureau
| Of chemistry. United States Depart
/ ment of Agriculture. to bridge over
' the gap. The function of this en-
! gineering service is to show industry
! that the laboratory finds" are com
! mercially workable.
: See to what good effect the scientist
. and the industrial engineer and the
! business man have thus been brought
/ into corporations:
! One of the big problems in agri-
. culture is TO find an outlet for Gull
and surplus crops. especially perish
able crops The bureau of chemistry
I is devoting much attention to the de-
, velopment Of new processes for the
! utilization of fruits and vegetables.
! The work which the bureau is doing
on Gull oranges and lemons grown in
! California and Florida is an illustra- :
: tion of the results obtained. Fruit
; which is too large or too small, un-
! slightly or misshapen, cannot be sold
:, profitably. Some fruit is not ft for
/ shipment because of minor defects.
I such as small bruises or punctureS
from thorns or gravel or rough
/ boxes, since such defects become
, points of infection. The amount or
| waste fruit averages from year to
! year about per cent of the total
: crop.
| Proves Merit at Once.
The bureau of chemistry organized
! laboratory in Los Angeles in 1914
( to investigate the possibility of
| adapting and of improving existing
methods for the utilization of waste
lemons. to develop new methods and
to make, if possible. new products
from the waste lemons, oranges and
grapefruit.
There were one or two small and
struggling by-product companies in
California when these Investigations
were begun. These concerns were
making no appreciable inroad into the
enormous supply of Gull fruit avail
able. Since the establishment of the
experimental laboratory in California,
veloped rapidly. Now there are four
staple concerns manufacturing lemon
by-products. The PLANTS of these
concerns have a capacity of $4,000
pounds of lemon oil. 100000 pounds OF
citrate of lime and more than 800. .00t
pounds of citric acid. Twenty con-
Germs are producing orange by-prod-
ucts to the extent Of S.000.0 pound:
. a year. including marmalade, marina
lade stock, jellieS, orange juices ant
| Improved methods for the manu-
facture of orange vinegar have beer
developed. Methods for the produc-
tion from the Gull grapefruit ot
caidied peel and juices of excellent
quality have been devised. The exist
ing methods for the manufacture OF
citrate of lime and of citric acid have
been improved and adapted TO Call
fornia conditions This work has
created an outlet for practically al
of the Gull and surplus oranges and
lemons, making it possible for the
growers to dispose OF them at a gooc
price, and has developed a new Amer
ican industry.
In connection with the development,
of the bureaus utilization program
attention has been given to the
preservation of fruits and vegetables
by drying, In the belief that this
method is destined some day to play
an important role in the country:
food preserving industry Improve
ments have been made in the proc
. eases Of dehydration with the reSult
that the product more nearly resem-
tles fresh fruits or vegetables thar
, iwhen the old fashioned drying process:
I is used.
Each fruit and vegetable present:
specific problems.
Study Many Plants.
Studies on the best designs OF
. plants and on the cost of operation
! are also being conducted. Studies oi
the various dryers being used have
been made with view to determin-
} ing which is the most efficient fol
each crop. The majority OF the dry
. ing plants arc of small capacity anC
: 1.-THE owners or managers are not al
lways adept in their operation, mol
can they afford to employ expert help
, The bureau of chemistry representa-
| tives have been able to assist them
in many ways. AS the result OF Spe-
, ciffc, although rather unusual, au-
thority conferred on the bureau in
|. the appropriation item, the bureau
has been cooperating with the in
; dustry to create market.
g. p.