8 CKOP PLANTS FOR PAPER MAKING. 



plants. Work was taken up in the summer of 1908 on the following : 

 Cornstalks, flax and rice straw, cotton stalks, bagasse, and tules. 

 Since that time broom-corn and hemp stalks, hemp wastes, cotton- 

 hull fiber, stalks of saccharine and nonsaccharine sorghums, Epi- 

 campes macroura (a southwestern grass whose tops are a by-product 

 of the root-brush industry), Arundo, Arundinaria, Eulalia, and sev- 

 eral other plants have been added to the list. During the past year 

 special attention has been given to practical tests in a large book- 

 paper mill. 



CORNSTALKS. 



Cornstalks were taken up first for several reasons: (1) They repre- 

 sent an enormous supply of raw material — the greatest unused crop 

 by-product. Over 100,000,000 acres are now devoted annually to 

 Indian corn in the United States. Taking 1 ton as the yield of stalks 

 per acre, which is a very conservative estimate, there are produced 

 at least 100.000,000 tons of stalks each year. Certainly not more than 

 one-third of this vast quantity is put to paying uses in present farm 

 practice. Ignoring another third, which may be produced in scat- 

 tered localities, thus adding a factor to the considerable expense that 

 would be involved in assembling it, there remain fully 30,000,000 

 tons of cornstalks grown in the area known as the " corn belt." A 

 great addition to farm wealth would result if some of this supply of 

 material could be made into paper and pulp products at a reasonable 

 profit. (2) Eesults obtained with cornstalks would be applicable in 

 a considerable measure to all grasses, rushes, and sedges which have 

 a similar structure, and in less measure to dissimilar plants having 

 some of the same cellular elements. (3) Considerable pioneering 

 work had been done with cornstalks, the results of which were 

 accessible to the Department. 



"V^nhile the cornstalk experiments have been encouraging, they have 

 not yet produced results that justify a definite pronouncement. 

 Paper of excellent quality has been made from 8 or 10 varieties 

 of corn during the past season, but it remains to be determined 

 whether the profit to the manufacturer will enable him to give the 

 farmer enough for his stalks to pay for harvesting, shredding, baling, 

 and delivering the same. All parts of the corn plant except the ears 

 and roots are used. Under present plans it is expected that corn- 

 stalks will yield three products: 



(1) Long fiber, which, on account of its strength and its good felt- 

 ing and other desirable qualities, is suitable for book, writing, and 

 other papers of the better class. Bone-dry stalks will yield from 

 12 to 18 per cent of long fiber, varying with the variety, conditions of 

 growth, and chemical treatment. 



£^The paper upon ichich this page is printed was made from broom-eorn 

 Stalks and poplar wood. See page 3. 

 [Cir. 82] 



