CURRENT COMMENT

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 118, 13 May 1932, Page 2

CURRENT COMMENT

similar. Very marked differences between these , two types of fibres ■were observed in dyeing. Protein fibres like wool and silk could be dyed directly by acid or basic dye*. Cellulose fibres, however, could not in general take up such dyes without special treatment. THE PIG INDUSTRY VIEWPOINT OF BREEDERS That Massey College had assisted the dairy industry and could possibly help the pig industry, was an opinion voiced by Mr. M. E. Knudsen at a meeting of the ManawatuOroua branch of the New Zealand Pig Breeders’ Association held at Palmerston North on Saturday. “The time has arrived wTien we should have some report on what is being done at the Agricultural College in this regard,” he said. “The pig industry is a most important one and is coming to the front. It is time the college told breeders how and .what can be done. Excellent work is being done at the college in the interests of dairy farmers and no doubt it could do the same for pig work, which is embarrassed as re-

OF GENERAL INTEREST ARTIFICIAL WOOL Dr. F. Lions, of the organic chemistry department, at Sydney University, informed the “Sydney Morning Herald” that the process for the manufacture of artificial wool from jute, as described in a message from New York, appeared to consist of a purification of jute cellulose, followed by treatment with strong alkali, which was essentially the process known as mercerisation, and which had been known since. 1850. Jute fibre, Dr. Lions said, consisted essentially of a sepcial compound of cellulose known as lignocellulose. Wool fibres consisted of protein material and contained notable proportions of sulphur and nitrogen. Cellulose contained no sulphur or nitrogen. It would be impossible to get a fibre chemically similar to wool from jute. Artificial wools made from cellulose had been known for some considerable time. The physical and chemical properties of such artificial woo] libres, however, were quite different from those of natural wool, although

the superficial appearance might be progress.” It was resolved to

i write to the college authorities, aski . Ing for information and stating that ' the association was concerned to a j certain extent at the lack of inform-

ation on pig breeding experiments.