MAIZE BY-PRODUCTS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 30, Issue 27, 9 April 1918, Page 4

MAIZE BY-PRODUCTS.

WASTED WEALTH.

Of the multifarious products obtained from all parts of the maize plant _in Europe, the United States of America, and other countries of the world, Australia produces but two —cornflour and horse-feed (either grain or green, or in tho form of ensilage), says a writer in the Queensland “Agricultural Gazette.' ' In 1914, 176,372 acres was under maize in Queensland, which yielded 4,260,673 bushels of grain. The maize harvest in tho following year was a poor one, amounting to a little over 2,000,000 bushels. Taking the cob as representing 18 per cent, of the car, it will bo seen that a vast quantity, of cobs have been produced only to be destroyed as valueless. Now, these cobs have a very considerable value as stock feed, as has been demonstrated in the long-continued general experience of American farmers. Apart from this, a ton of ordinary wood when burnt only gives lOOlbs. of potash, 321bs. of phosphoric acid and 6401b5. of lime. But a ton of corn cobs burnt in to ash gives 5001bs. of potash, 901bs. of phosphoric acid, and 1401bs. of lime. So much for the manurial value of the cobs.

What are we losing in the way of other products of the maize plant ? Generally speaking, people have no idea of the thousand and one ways in which the Americans utilise maize. This plant is to them more precious than is the bamboo to the Orientals. The pith of the stalk is converted into cellulose, which is utilised in the manufacture of smokeless powder and other high explosives in vast demand during tho present war. Cellulose is largely used for packing cofferdams and in the belting of battleships; proxilino varnish is a liquid made from cellulose, the uses of which are practically unlimited. The pith is used also as an insulating material in refrigerating chambers and cars, ships' holds, electric dry batteries, and as casing for pipes of steam generators, and it enters largely into the manufacture of a washable floor cloth superior to linoleum. Besides being put to these uses, tho pith of the maize stalk is used in enormous quantities in dynamite factories under the name of “wood meal.”

Out of the spathes or husks covering the cob is produced a material that, in America, is utilised to manufacture various tissues, straw mats and hats, and, above all, a tough parchment paper for envelopes and bank notes. Every part of the plant can be utilised. The stalks and leaves are used in a thousand industries, the fines book paper, among other things, being made out of the stalks.

Besides starch, another produce of the grain is dextrine for fixing the colours in cloth. Whisky, eau-dc-colcgne, etc., are distilled from it. Enormous quantities of glucose are manufactured from maize, and this actually finds its way to the tables of fashionable America under the name of golden syrup. The grain is also made to produce a bright, tasteless oil, which is largely used in adulterating olive and cod liver oil. Finally, rubber is extracted from it by vulcanising the oil. Briefly, every conceivable product is obtained from maize except crystallisable sugar, as maize sugar will not granulate, for which reason it is made into golden syrup. All these products have for years been left to rot in the fields of farmers, and they have not even utilised the cobs by grinding them into stbek food as is done in America. When shall we wake up to a sense of the hidden wealth in our products, and make marketable commodities from these products as do the Americans ?—N.Z. Dairyman,