FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 55 



NOTHING WASTED. 



Observe that iu all of this, nothing has been wasted. Every thing is 

 saved. Materials which a few years ago were considered nseless or as 

 having little value, now find ready sale. At one time the millers of Michi- 

 gan could not sell their bran. There are probably those present who can 

 remember that in that early day. one of the conditions upon which the 

 Michigan miller purchased his wheat was that for every load purchased 

 from the farmer the farmer should haul away a portion of bran and dis- 

 pose of it in some way. Thousands of tons of wheat bran have been thrown 

 into the streams to be carried away. Today not only is there not this 

 waste of wheat bran but corn bran is saved and sold and is recognized as 

 having a feeding value. 



It is claimed by the manufacturers that the farmers of Iowa, for ex- 

 ample, can sell a part of their corn and with a part of the proceeds pur- 

 chase back a sufficient quantity of the by-products of corn from the starch 

 and glucose factories to equal in feeding value the total corn they have 

 sold. 



How long will it be before the farmer shall have discovered all his 

 resources and shall have learned to husband and classify them and es- 

 tablish their worth as has the manufacturer? 



In the corn belt very few of the corn stalks are fed. The corn is 

 largely husked from the stalk and the cattle of the farm may be turned 

 into the field to graze upon the stover and to pick up the ears that may 

 have been left by the busker. 



In the spring the remaining stalks are broken down, or broken down 

 and cut into short lengths by a machine made for the purpose, and plowed 

 under. In some sections the stalks are raked into piles and burned. 



USES OF STALKS. 



Of late years factories have sprung up where farmers are ofl'ered per- 

 haps three dollars a ton for their stalls. Here the woody outside portions 

 of the stalks are removed, ground up and put upon the market at some- 

 thing like .|6.00 per ton. Sometimes it is fed directly to stock, sometimes 

 mixed with other materials such as refuse molasses, and fed. It is said 

 to possess much merit as a feed. The material, however, which the man- 

 ufacturer is seeking most is the pith of the stalk which is put to a number 

 of uses. First, large quantities are pressed into solid cakes to be used 

 between the inner and outer walls of our great battleships from some- 

 what below the water line to somewhat above. Should the wall of the 

 battleship be penetrated by a projectile, the water entering and coming 

 in contact with the pith causes it to swell and thus to close up the opening 

 and exclude the water. Other portions of the pith are used in the manu- 

 facture of a high grade of paper resembling our linen paper. Other 

 portions are used in the manufacture of the higher grades of smokeless 

 powder and dynamite. Other portions are used in the manufacture of 

 a very superior quality of varnish used in the arts. Corn-stalk pith is 

 also used for filling in between the walls of refrigerators and refrigera- 

 tor cars. It is espe*cially valuable for this for two reasons, first, that it 

 is a most excellent non-conductor of heat and second, that it does not 

 pack as does most other materials, but instead keeps continually loos- 

 ened up, perfectly filling the whole space. 



