Evening star., 1939-10-22
Science Enlisted for Farmer
To Find New Riches in Crops
Four Federal Research Laboratories Explore
Potential Uses for Surpluses to
Balance Industry's Gains
By C.. Belmont FAIRIES

uCLS, SuCll dS straw, SJalkS, HuSkS anu IlUlo,
went to the Northern area; cotton, sweet
potatoes and peanuts to the Southern:
tobacco, apples, Irish potatoes, milk
products and vegetables to the Eastern,
and fruits, other than apples, vegetables,
wheat and alfalfa to the Western.
Taking the northern regional labora-
tory as an example, what does corn have
to offer? Motor fuel is one answer. Some
60 to 10 per cent of the typical kernel is
starch. Corn can be fermented, and one
possible product is a motor fuel made
from corn alcohol.
That idea has been investigated before.
But the laboratory, by going into the
problem in systematic way, will at
tempt to find product that will not
only work efficiently, but can be produced
for a competitive market at price
which makes raising corn profitable for
the farmer.
Corn is not the only possible source of
liquid fuels. Wheat may be used, or
agricultural by-products. Solid fuels,
such as pulverized corn and wheat,
starch, cellulose, lignin and carbon, also
WALL Oc AAFCotl6dCCQ. hll0 bdSCOQS 4QClS
offer third field Of study.
Oil reserves are not inexhaustible
Eventually some substitute will be needed
and it is quite possible the farm will pro-
vide it.
Wheat Problem More Difficult.
Wheat, as source OF raw materials.
like starch, protein and fats, is relatively
expensive, hence presents more difficult
ties than corn. Farm by-products such
as straw and stalks are composed chiefly
Of cellulose, already one of the most i'm
portant industrial raw materials
Lignin, which in the average runs as
high as 25 or 30 per cent Of these by
products, is, with the exception of coal,
the only large natural source Of aro-
matte material Of the benzene type.
When coal deposits are depleted, II not
before, it will necessarily be used to
supply the huge industrial demand for
aromatic compounds.
Plastics. too, offer a promising field
for farm by-product uses.
Linked with chemical research will be
engineering investigations of the har-
vesting, assembling and processing OF
the farm products and their derivatives.
Economic research will reveal the price
at which product may be profitably
used by industry.
The farmer, Secretary Wallace has
pointed out, has nothing to gain from
industrial use Of his products unless
industry can take them at price which
will make 1t possible for him to make
living.
New approaches to the problem of
King Cotton will be sought in the South
ern laboratory. The program, as out
lined by DR.. Henry G. knight chief Of
the Bureau of Agriculture Chemistry
and Engineering, includes studies of.
characteristics of cotton textile fiber,
changes Of textile properties, as for ex-
ample by new resin finishes; processing
cotton into cheap industrial textiles such
as bagging and duck; use Of linters In.
upholstery and for chemical cellulose,
and studies of cottonseed oil.
Cellulose Itself Studied.
Cellulose itself, regardless of its plant
source, is to be studied in a number of
ways, including comparison of different
plant fibers, variations in cellulose from
various parts of the same plant and in
vestigation of its physical and biological
properties.
Alfalfa, one of the products to be in
vestigated at the Western laboratory, has
a protein content of from 20 to IS per
cent. This protein content suggests q
wide variety of industrial uses for al
falfa, which may also become an impor-
tant source for recovery. of carotene,
closely allied to the vitamins. The study
of chlorophyl offers possibilities Of uses
IN pharmaceuticals and in food process
ing as coloring agent
In addition to fundamental studies of
alfalfa, pilot plant work on the produc-
ton of chlorophyll, proteins and carotene
is planned. 1t has been the lack of such
pilot plants that has made ditncult the
shift from test tube to commercial pro-
duction In many fields already studied,
including the processing Of sweet DO
tatoes for starch, now done on a COM
mercial scale at one Mississippi factory.
Nicotine Possibilities Explored.
Greatest hope for the increased con-
sumption Of tobacco, to be studied in tho
Eastern laboratory, lies in the fact that
nicotine is highly toxic to insects. De-
velopments OF the past five years have
greatly increased the efficiency of nico-
tine and enlarged its use as a spray or
dust insecticide. The development of
"nxed nicotine" compounds offers q
broad field for study In control of chew
ing insects. ..,,
Research plans include the production
Of tobaccos Of higher nicotine content
and a search for uses for some Of the 80
odd other constituents Of tobacco.
What may come Of these research
plans it is impossible to predict, scien-
tific investigation is slow. often costly
work. One big corporation alone spends
each year for research more than the
sum allotted to the four regional labors-