Fortunes in Agriculture 201 



into the vacuum. In the course of time he produced 1 1 8, from 

 shoe polish to rubber. 



"Peanuts had the great advantage possessed by all pod- 

 bearing plants of abstracting fertilizing nitrogen from the air, 

 thus enriching the soil instead of depleting it. From this now 

 famous legume (now a $20o,ooo,ooo-a-year industry, thanks 

 to Dr. Carver) he produced a list, always out of date before 

 it could be printed, though it numbers some 300 items from 

 soup to nuts gastronomically, and including soap, metal pol- 

 ish, plastic paper, axle grease." 



Dr. Carver could have been a wealthy man, but he refused 

 to accept money for his hundreds of inventions. 



Rackham Holt wrote of how a representative of a great 

 paint company came to see a color Dr. Carver had made from 

 Macon County clay: 



" T)r. Carver,' said the expert, 'according to our observa- 

 tions, this color is 70 times bluer than blue. We would like to 

 put it on the market.' 



" 'No, no, no!' was the alarmed response. 'I don't want to 

 commercialize it.' 



"This is the rule to which he firmly adhered. From all over 

 America, from China, India, Japan, Russia, came emissaries or 

 letters asking for help in problems. Often checks were in- 

 cluded. Back would go the check, and the solution with it, 

 whether it was how to dye cement or turn peanuts into lino- 

 leum or into milk for babies in the Belgian Congo. In all his 

 efforts he constantly asked himself, 'How can this be adapted 

 to the requirements of humble people?' ' 



Dr. Carver's pioneering work on peanuts and sweet pota- 

 toes has been followed up by other chemurgists. Progress has 

 been made on a textile fiber from peanuts. A heat-insulating 

 board, nearly equal to cork and much cheaper, has been made 

 from peanut shells. Sweet potatoes are used for the manufac- 

 ture of industrial alcohol, and for starch to make adhesives for 

 stamps and envelopes. 



