36 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AORTCULrURE. 



dustry for the utilization of cull and surplus orang^es and lemons. It 

 has also discovered a feasible method of utilizing corncobs, which 

 always have been a waste product, so that their entire content can now 

 be made into highly useful articles. The experts of the bureau have 

 produced from corncobs a large yield of adhesive suitable for pasting 

 container box board. After this is removed, a considerable quantity 

 of a lower grade product can be made, and the residue is practically 

 pure cellulose, which can be used in the manufacture of a num- 

 ber of commodities, including a good quality of paper when mixed 

 with a suitable quantity of wood pulp. After the processes for re- 

 covering all these articles had been worked out. it was discovered 

 that a considerable quantity of a very valuable chemical — furfural — 

 was formed, and methods of recovering it have been developed. 

 Furfural is a basic intermediary in dye manufacture and, in addi- 

 tion, has great possibilities as a solvent and as a substitute for form- 

 aldehyde in the manufacture of plastics. Many other similar lines of 

 investigation are actively under way, but these two illustrations 

 clearly indicate what can be done toward opening up new industrial 

 outlets for agricultural products. 



OFFICE or DE^^2LOPMENT WORK. 



It has been found, however, that the benefits of the important 

 discoveries made by the scientists of the Bureau of Chemistry 

 are not always fully realized. The difficulty is that of bringing 

 about their commercial development. In order to meet this situ- 

 ation, there has been established in the bureau an Office of De- 

 velopment Work, the function of which is to aid in bringing the dis- 

 coveries to the attention of business men and others. When new 

 processes have passed the experimental laboratory stage, it becomes 

 the duty of this new office, which is conducted by engineers rather 

 than chemists, to investigate their commercial value and the cost and 

 method of placing them on a commercial production basis. Efforts 

 then will be made to inform manufacturers and business men re- 

 garding the opportunities for them to develop facilities for the 

 utilization of the discoveries, so that the people of the country may 

 secure full benefit of them. 



THE AGRICULTURAL, EXTENSION SYSTEM. 



The broad development of the national system of cooperative 

 extension work in agriculture and home economics under the pro- 

 visions of the act of May 8, 1914 (Smith-Lever Act), is one of the 

 most notable events in agriculture in recent years. When this act 

 went into effect, approximately 900 counties had the services of an 

 agricultural agent and 275 the services of a home demonstration 



