BY-PRODUCTS OF THE FARM 191 



the soil's fertility. So this farmer will thus be 

 feeding the land as he feeds his cattle, and the 

 soil will be as responsive to its good treatment 

 as his cattle are responsive to their good treat- 

 ment, and they each will wax fat and pour their 

 wealth into the hands of this farmer. 



For years the author has denounced the insane 

 method of pasturing and burning cornstalks. He 

 calls these methods of utilizing this by-product of 

 the farm insane because they lead to such a crim- 

 inal waste of soil fertility, for which our soils 

 are pleading as shown by their waning crop 

 growth and productiveness. And this is not 

 theory with the author. He has for years prac- 

 ticed the method of not pasturing the stalks and 

 plowing them under upon lands adjoining the 

 same character of lands where the system of pas- 

 turing and burning was practiced, and the results 

 in favor of the author's method have been so 

 marked that it has led him to denounce the old 

 method of pasturing and burning, which he will 

 continue to do with all his might and power. 



There may be other methods of conserving this 

 by-product that have merit, as for instance, a pro- 

 cess has been discovered by which paper can be 

 made from cornstalks. The stalks are beaten and 

 fanned to remove the dirt from them. They are 

 then cut into pieces and steeped in water and 

 shredded into fiber in a special machine. This 

 shredded material is then boiled in diluted acetic 

 acid under air pressure which results in a product 

 of which one per cent, to eighteen per cent, is an 

 alkaline solution and yields large quantities of ex- 

 cellent paper fiber, leaving a residue which may be 



