No. 4.] SURPLUS FARM PRODUCTS. 101 



The labor cost of canning on the farm is much greater per 

 unit than is the cost in the factory where large automatic 

 machinery is used for the various operations, unless the farmer 

 can do his canning work at odd times, when his labor is not 

 otherwise advantageously employed. The quality will not 

 average as high or as uniform when canned in the home, 

 owing to the lack of modern means for proper sterilization and 

 testing. 



The process of drying has been employed to a certain extent 

 in this country in the case of fruits, and in Germany with some 

 vegetables, notably the potato, from which potato flour is 

 made. Our government is now experimenting with the potato 

 for this purpose, and it is possible that in the near future 

 potato flour will be made on a commercial scale in this country. 



Denatured alcohol can be made from all farm products 

 containing sugar, but this work has not met with any great 

 degree of success as yet, as the price that could be paid for 

 farm products when used for this purpose would be in many 

 cases below the actual cost of harvesting and delivering to the 

 distillery. 



The potato, on account of the large amount of starch it con- 

 tains, is the most desirable farm crop for alcohol making. At 

 the present prices of denatured alcohol the distiller would be 

 able to pay the farmer about 12 to 15 cents per bushel for 

 potatoes. This industry, therefore, affords the farmer very little 

 relief in the way of a market for his surplus or crops of No. 2 

 quality unless the price of alcohol increases materially. 



Mr. Donald McRae of State Farm. I should like to ask 

 the speaker if he knows the process that potatoes go 

 through in making potato flour? Whether the potatoes are 

 just evaporated and ground, or whether they are cooked first 

 and then evaporated and ground? 



Mr. Hall. I am unable to answer your question. The De- 

 partment of Agriculture at Washington is at present interested 

 in this work, and is now prepared to send out samples of this 

 material. They have not as yet published any details con- 

 cerning the most approved methods of the process. We know 



