BUKEAU or CHEMISTRY. 261 



The industry is in a depressed condition at the present time and in 

 certain sections of the country this condition is especially serious. 

 Constructive assistance in the manner outlined would be of very great 

 impoi'tance at any time and is particularly needed under present 

 conditions. 



FURFURAL FROM CORNCOBS AND OTHER WASTE. 



The work on the utilization of corncobs, which has been reported 

 previously, has led to further experimentation in the manufacture 

 and utilization of furfural. Heretofore the cost of furfural was too 

 great to permit its general commercial use. It can now be made 

 from corncobs by processes developed in the Bureau of Chemistry 

 at a price that makes its use of interest to a number of manufacturing 

 industries. It can be used, for instance, in the manufacture of sjm- 

 thetic resins which heretofore have been made chiefl}- from formalde- 

 hyde and phenol. The commercial demand for synthetic resin com- 

 pounds is increasing rapidly, as they are used in the manufacture of 

 printing plates, phonograph records, varnishes, pipe stems, electrical- 

 instrument parts, buttons, binders for brushes, glue, and many other 

 useful articles. In addition to furfural, there have been oljtained 

 from corncobs acetic acid and a gummy material which can be used 

 as an adhesive in the manufacture of pasteboard boxes and may 

 prove useful in the manufacture of coal briquettes. 



Experiments are under way on the manufacture of furfural from 

 other agricultural wastes, such as rice hulls, buckwheat hulls, cotton- 

 seed hulls, and peanut hulls. Peanut hulls yield less than one-third 

 the amount of furfural that would be expected from a comparison 

 of their pentosan content with that of corncobs. The yield with 

 steam alone is so low as to preclude any commercial consideration of 

 the use of peanut hulls as a source of furfural by the process as used 

 for corncobs. There are indications that this yield may be consider- 

 ably increased by the use of certain catalysts, and the effect of these 

 will be studied. 



BEVERAGE FROM CASSINA. 



Investigations on a laboratory scale showed that a very delightful 

 beverage resembling tea in many respects can be made from cassina, 

 a wild plant that grows abimdantly in the South Atlantic and Gulf 

 States from Virginia to Texas, when the leaves of the plant are 

 treated by processes similar to those used in curing tea. The cassina 

 plant has been used to a limited extent by Indians, and, during the 

 Civil War when tea and coffee could not be obtained, by people of 

 the Southern States, to make a beverage. Unless properly cured, 

 however, cassina does not make a good beverage. 



It having been demonstrated in the laboratory that cassina could 

 be treated by processes similar to those used in the tea industry and 

 an excellent beverage made from it, work has been undertaken to 

 produce it on a larger scale. An experimental plant has been 

 installed near Charleston, S. C. and preliminary reports indicate 

 tliat the laboratory results can be duplicated on a commercial scale. 



Laboratory experiments have been conducted on the use of the 

 hot water extract of properly cured cassina leaves as a base in the 



