Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-15

Iowa was exploring the possibilities of
cornstalks representatives of the Bu-
reau of Standards visited the South to
look into the wastes of its. principal
crop-cotton.
THE truth is that we didn't find any
very obvious wastes there" said Mr..
Emley. Years ago cottonseed were re-
garded as a nuisance. The farmers,
after the cotton was ginned and the
seed extracted, dumped the useless
seeds into gullies and creeks, and even
burned them to rid the countryside of
them. But now cottonseed has quite as
definite value as the cotton fiber itself.
From its oil are made well known SUBJ
stitutes for butter, cream, lard, olive oil
and lubricating oil, while the residue
Is ground to a meal which Is widely
used as cattle feed" Today this former
nuisance Is bringing in more than
$50, 100000 year to the farms of the
South.
Cotton plants also have stalks, and
the bureau investigators considered the
possibilities of utilizing them. But
the agricultural authorities did not re-
gard the cotton stalks as waste" said
Mr.. Emley. They are rich in potash
and when plowed back into the soil
add valuable fertilizer
Then we studied the cotton burrs,
%.
These, too, proved to be rich in potash
and in phosphorus, and a means of
making them economically available as
fertilizer is being worked out.
About the only residue of the cotton
crop that seemed to be serving no use
full purpose was the hulls of the cotton
seed, the shells which remain after the
seed has been cracked open and its oily
kernel removed. In some parts of the
South these hulls were ground into a
bran and used as a dilutant to mix
with cattle meal We analysed them
and found that the hullS are rich in
this rare sugar, Xylose.
I'VE had previously discovered xylose
in peanut shells, and at the bureau lab
oratories in Washington had been ex-
perimenting with methods of extract
ing the sugar. But here in the cotton
seed hulls we found a sugar content
far higher, and the larger tonnage of
this waste made it a promising field Of
research
Laboratory Built in Alabama.
So laboratory to study cottonseed
hulls was built at Admission, Ala, right
in the heart of the cotton country.
And, just as in Iowa the cornstalks
laboratory was a joint enterprise with
the State College, so the Government
engineers here had the cooperation of
the University of Alabama, the State
Polytechnic Institute and the Swami
Corporation, all working through the
Alabama Industrial Development Board.
A complete manufacturing plant on
a small scale was built, and during the
last few months it has been producing
xylose at the rate Of 100 pounds a day.
The object has been to develop the
most economical process of extracting
the sugar and. to put production on q
precise cost basis. 1t is expected that
standardiZing the process and demon
strating the economy of manufacture
private capital will take up the in
dustry.
And this mysterious $1Oo-a-pound
sugar?
TT has brought that price because of
its extreme rarity" explained Mr..
Emley. Indeed, up to now 1t has been
laboratory curiosity and was prac-
tically unknown to industry. It's prin-
cipal use has been as a medium for
the culture Of certain bacteria. Be-
cause of this high price, too, very little
experimenting has been done with
| xyloSe commercially, for no one was
willing to pay 500 a pound for sugar
just to explore its possibilities.
But now at our Admission plant we
are making the sugar for a few cents
a pound and are supplying it to all
who are willing to test its uses. Twenty
f1ve laboratories in the United States
and 10 abroad are experimenting with
samples from our production"
Two American manufacturers of gun
powder are trying the possibilities of
this sugar as base material for ex-
plosives. One Of the large candy manu-
featuring companies is experimenting
with 1t for candy. In Chicago a food
packing concern Is testing its food
value. Bakers, medical Institutes, tan
neries and research laboratories of va
| rious kinds have secured specimens OF
xyloSe and are experimenting with its
applications In their special fields.
Fed to Rats in Test.
One laboratory has been feeding the
new sugar to rats and watching results
The biologists there report that the
| xylose apparently is not assimilated In
the digestive processes of the rats, but
| passes through their bodies UNCHANGED
II this effect should prove to be true
OF humans as well one can see brilliant
| prospects for the cotton seed hull sugar
Reaching for a sweet-provided, of
course, that it's a xylose sweet-will
cease to carry the dire consequences
openly limited by recent advertising au-
thorities, and since the cotton planters
Of the South largely control the sources
OF this raw material, one may conjure
up the paradox of farmers fattening as
a result Of mountaineering sugar.
However, such suggestions are but
facetious dreams as yet-the future OF
the new sugar is still in the test tubes
OF the scientists. What we do know is
that here we have another member OF
the multttudinous tribe Of sugars; that
there is a potential $50, 900 tons of IL
available in cottonseed waste and
recoverable at few cents a pound, and
that just as soon as this new sugar is
put to work the farmers in a wide area
will have an additional source of In
come.
These two reSearcheS-one In the
cornfields Of Iowa, the other In the
cotton plantations of Alabama, are
| typical OF the sort of work that Mr.
Emley and his associates are doing.
| They are investigating peanut shells
| for example. These are not altogether
useless-hundreds of tons are burned
every year as fuel. But the chemists
believes they can be put to even more
profitable use, and in a year or two
| perhaps, there will be a new sir1Ip. q
new fruit acid or a new flavor at the
soda fountain masquerading under q
fancy name, but in reality an extract
of peanut shells.
Straw Being Investigated.
They are investigating straw. Amer.
lea produces about 100000 tons Of
straw each year in its fields of wheat
oats and other grain Some straw Is
used on the farm as bedding for cattle
and horses. but much is burned.
~ -
terial for paper making" remarked Mr.
Emley. I'VE know we can make paper
If 1t. Indeed, some of the earliest paper
made in the United States was straw
paper. But the problem is whether We
can make straw paper good enough anc