Evening star., 1937-03-30

A potential major development in the
story Of cotton, upon which may depend
the economic salvation of 3,0OOOO
people has just been announced by the
American Chemical Society.
AS a result Of experiments extending
over seven years in the chemical labora-
tories Of the University OF North Caro-
lima ways have been worked out Tor
growing cotton entirely for the produc-
ton of oil and cellulose. This work Will
be described in detail next month when
the American Chemical Society meets
at the university by DR.. Frank K.
Cameron, professor of chemistry, who
has directed the work.
The experiments have been designed
to prove the feasibility of planting cot
ton thickly and. after comparatively
short growing season, harvesting the en-
tire plant and bailing it for subsequent
processing Oil would be chemically eX-
tracted from the seeds and the residue
would be treated to obtain cellulose.
This is the raw material for rayon which
is cotton's chief rival in the textile field
and is chiefly responsible for decreased
cotton markets all over the world.
For some years." says DR.. Cameron In
his communication to the American
Chemical Society, at has appeared i'm
probable that lint cotton can continue to
be produced economically in the South
Atlantic states, particularly in the Caro-
inas. The types produced there to ad-
vantage agriculturally are not those
desired by the adjacent mills The tex
tiles for which these types are best
adapted are being displaced by rayon.
"It appears that population of per-
haps 100000, whose very existence de-
pends upon it, must find another crop to
replace cotton. No such crop has been
suggested. It would be enormously diff
cult, if at all possible, to remove so large
a population to new locations and return
the land to forest. A hopeful sugges-
ton is to modify and cheaper the grow
ing of cotton within the frame of ex-
perience and the technical ability of the
people now growing it, and find use
for it other than in the making of cotton
textiles
There is rapidly growing demand,
DR.. Cameron continues, for alpha
cellulose. It is now obtained from wood
such as spruce, poplar and pine. But
none of these are as good cellulose pro-
ducers as the cotton plant which, more
over, is an annual. He proposes to
harvest the cotton crop by moving 1t a
few inches above the ground, recover
the oil from the Seeds and obtain alpha
cellulose from the stems just as 1t now
is obtained from wood.
Thus there would be no further con-
Germ about the length Of the fiber, the
yield per acre, nor the size of the plant.
The best results have been obtained with
a small-sized PLAIN of rather spindly
growth, but with a large development
of seeds and lint. These characteristics
have been secured, DR.. Cameron says,
by crowding and starving the cotton
plants. This shortens the growing period
and results in large production of bolls
ripening over a period Of week instead
CT the customary ripening period ex-
tending to three months.
The cost of obtaining cellulose from
cotton, DR.. Cameron says, are not neces-
sarily greater than that of getting from
wood. In this case, however, there is the
additional value Of the oil. He con-
cludes: Some excellent pure-white
samples of alpha-cellulose suitable for
making rayon have been prepared from
whole cotton, and a study of cellulose
from whole cotton, spruce, poplar and
pine showed results favorable to cotton.