Evening star., 1951-06-29
SuwmiIIs' Wood Waste
Converted Into MoIusses
Agriculture Department Unit
Reports on Experiments
By Thomos R. Henry

Molasses and yeast from wood-largely
the now unutilized waste from saw
mills-promise to play important parts
In American agriculture Of the future.
The Agriculture Departments Wood
Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis,
according to a recent department report.
has developed process by which ap-
proximately half of this wood waste
can be converted to molasses.
This molasses. in turn, has been shown
in tests all over the country to be an
entirely suitable feed for cattle. pigs.
sheep and poultry with a food value
equal to that Of high-grade corn. The
quantities available are almost limit
less, and the cost is ixed conservatively
at 10 cents a gallon. The feeding tests
indicate that COW can be fed profitably
as much as a gallon every five days.
Has Bitter Taste.
1t is unlikely. however, that this molss-
ses in its present form will be used d.
rectly in production of human foods. 1t
has bitter taste due to impurities
from the wood which might be difficult
to remove. This, it has been found, does
not seem to make it less attractive to
stock.
An average of about $50 gallons of this
molasses can be produced from one ton
OF the usual sawmill wood waste. There
are about so million tons available each
year. 1t would provide little more than
three pounds of molasses day for each
head of cattle in the United States.
The molasses also may be used in
production of yeast suitable for animal
food and, quite probably, for human
food. A similar yeast was produced in
Germany during the war and approxi-
mately 10000 tons year were used to
supplement the diet of human beings.
The results were somewhat debatable.
although 1t can be demonstrated that
the wood yeast is rich in fats. proteins
and B vitamins. About a fifth of the
wood can be recovered as yeast.
Experiments to date have shown
that it is an entirely satisfactory feed
for swine and poultry. It added to the
hatchability of eggs.
New and potent germ killers are being
isolated from plants
The progress has been reported by
the Agriculture Departments chemical
division. now engaged in far-reaching
survey OF American plants containing
anti-biotics.
At the University of Indiana. Juices
from 120 plants native to that State
have been tested. Twenty-Five of them
have shown germ-killing potentialities.
At Western Reserve University, 200
species of plants native to Oregon have
nf
to contain substances which inhibit
germ growth.
Out of 231 plants collected in Ohio.
46 inhibited the growth of one or more
species of bacteria.
At the University of Vermont. 73
Green Mountain plants have been tested
and at least two have shown possible
future medical value.
At Columbia University it has been
found that the pressed Juice of the
buttercup has been found a powerful
bacter1cide but it is so poisonous that,
IN It's present state, no use can be made
of 1t in medicine
From Cabbage Leaves.
At the New York Agricultural Expert
ment station an extract potent against
one large family of bacteria has been
obtained from cabbage leaves.
Agriculture Department chemists
themselves have tested more than 800
plant varieties and about half showed
some degree of germ killing ability, ac-
cording to the report of Chemists
P. S. Schaeffer. William E. Scott and
Thomas D. Fontaine.
The research project still is in pre-
liminary stage and none of the new
plant extracts has been used in medi.
cine. The hopeful note is that most
OF them are quite specific in their ac-
tlon. usually being effective only against
a limited number of germ species.
The great value of the work comes
from the fact that disease causing
organisms often become resistant to the
known types of anti-biotics and it Is
necessary to attack them from an en-
tirely new approach.