90 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ Juue, 



contain the nnnouncenient of some such a 

 fact, and the details of the (irocess by which 

 the result may be reached. Here, for example, 

 before us, in the current numljer of the Eriw 

 Industricl we have a description of the method 

 by whicli the straw is extracted from manure 

 heaps, to be subsequently utilized (after clean- 

 iug and drying) as a clieap bedding for horses 

 and cattle, packing for glass, crockery, etc., 

 but more especially for paper pulp, to which 

 it is said to be peculiarly adapted ; since, 

 saturated with urine and allowed to ferment, 

 ammonia is evolved, which aids in separating 

 the fibers, and reduces the need of using 

 stronger and costlier alkalies to a minimum. 

 After extracting the stitiw the remaining 

 manure is sold for the usual purposes. The 

 simple machinery for doing all this is an in- 

 vention of an American resident of Paris. 

 Much of the false hair worn by the fair sex of 

 Europe and America is derived from sources 

 that would make the wearers stand aghast 

 were they to learn the facts. From a late report 

 on the connuerce of Swatow (Cliina) we learn 

 that a large ex|)ort trade of hair, gathered in 

 the stalls of Ijarbers, sprang up in 1873, during 

 which year Ul piculs (18,S0i) pounds) worth 

 2,904 taels (84,300), were shijjped to Europe. 

 In 1875 the exports of this refuse rose to 

 1,000 piculs, with a value of over $25,000, cer- 

 tainly a remarkable industry to be created at 

 such a distant point to supply the demands of 

 a caprice of fashion. 



To chemistry modern pe)-fumery is perhaps 

 more indebted than any art that ministers to 

 tlie luxury of life. It is commonly supposed 

 that all lloral essences are the product of dis- 

 tillation ; nothing could be a greater mistake ; 

 nearly every perfume of the toilet bottle or 

 sachet of the muchoir case is the product of 

 waste matters— some of them odorless, others 

 most intensely nauseous and disgusting. 

 Many a fair maiden damps .her brow with the 

 "Extract of Millefleurs," innocent of the 

 knowledge that its essential ingredient is de- 

 rived from the drainage of the cowhouse. 

 The perfumed toilet soap is scented and con- 

 fecti onery tlavored with oil of bitter almonds 

 artificially prepared by the action of nitric 

 acid on the fetid oil of gas-tar. The pure 

 "fruit sirups" of some of tlie soda water ven- 

 ders are made from factitious oils that chem- 

 ists h avB learned h iw 1 o produce. Singularly 

 ■ enough, too, the latter are usually derived 

 from Substances of disgusliug odor. The oil 

 of pineapples is obtauied from a product of 

 the action of i)utrid cheese on sugar, or by 

 making a soap with l)utter and distilling it 

 with alcohol and sulphuric acid. The peculiar 

 fetid substance called "fusel oil" serves as a 

 base for several artificial flavors ; thus, dis- 

 tilled witli sulphuric acid and acetate of pot- 

 ash, it gives oil of pears; with sulphuric acid 

 and bicln-omate of potash the product is oil of 

 apples. And so, too, by other means known 

 to the chemist, refuse corks are made to yield 

 essence of midberries, tallow to put forth 

 essence of melons, and the wood of the wil- 

 low tree to partwitli oil of wintergreenundis- 

 tinguishable from the genuine article. The 

 fact, well known to the schoolboy, that by the 

 action of sulphuric acid on starch, sawdust, 

 woody fiber, etc., a saccharine substance 

 called "glucose," or grape sugar, is produced, 

 has not by any means been lost sight of in this 

 country, notwithstanding the low price of 

 cane sugar. Extensive works for the manu- 

 facture of this article are located in one of the 

 largest cities of the western part of the State, 

 and almost every day one or two car loads 

 arrive, occasionally consigned to Europe, but 

 oftener to the various brewers of the city and 

 vicinity, and to extensive dealers in molasses. 

 All these matters show a direct application of 

 science to an industrial purjwse, and imply a 

 knowledge of the deepest investigation into 

 organic chemistry. 



One of the most singular discoveries in the 

 history of agricultural chemistry is due wholly 

 to the French. Sheep draw from the land oil 

 which they graze a large quantity of potash, 

 which is eventually excreted from the skin 

 along with the sweat. It was shown by 



Chevreul that this peculiar potash compound 

 ("suint") forms at least one-third of the 

 weight of raw merino wool ; while it consti- 

 tutes about 15 per cent, of tlie weight of the 

 fresh rteece. As it is easy to extract the 

 "suint" by mere immersion in water, the 

 wool manufacturers can readily produce more 

 or less concentrated solutions, from which the 

 potash may be recovered by ai)propriate 

 treatment. The development of this new in- 

 dustry is principally due to MM. Manmne 

 and Rogelet, whose process, in operation at 

 most of the great .seats of wool manufacture, 

 is very simple. They evaporate the solutions 

 to dryness, and place the residuum in retorts, 

 and distill it very much the same as coal is 

 distilled at gas works. The result is that 

 while much gas is evolved which can be used 

 for lighting the factory, and much ammonia 

 is expelled which can be collected and used in 

 many ways, there remains a product consist- 

 ing of carbonate, sulphate and chloride of 

 potassium. Tbese salts are separated by the 

 usual method and pass into connuerce. While 

 on the subject of animal refuse, we refer to 

 the manner in which certain dead animals are 

 utilized in France. Every portion of a dead 

 dog, for instance, is converted to some use ; 

 it is boiled down for the fat, the skin is sold 

 to glovers and the bones go to make super- 

 phosphate. In Paris the carcass of a horse is 

 worth more than elsewhere, inasmuch as the 

 working classes eat the best portions of the 

 flesh. Their hair is a well-known refuse used 

 by the upholsterer ; the hide goes to the tan- 

 ner to make thick leather for bank ledgers, 

 etc., the intestines make coarse gut-strings, 

 wheel bands and lathes ; the fat, wliich from 

 a well-conditioned horse amounts to GO tt>s., 

 finds a ready market ; tlie hoofs are used 

 either by turners or makers of Prussian blue, 

 and the bones go to manufacturers of ivory 

 black and to turners. Even the jjutrid flesh 

 is allowed to breed maggots, which are sold 

 as food to fatten fowls. The final residue is 

 used by rat catchers to trap tlieir prey, and 

 the skin of the captured rat finds a ready sale 

 among furriers on account of its delicate fur. A 

 statement that has frequently gone the rounds 

 of the papers to the elfect, that most of the 

 "kid" gloves of commerce arc made from 

 the skin of this rodent is probalily untrue, 

 since its siliall size would preclude its use for 

 anything but gloves for children. 



The great meat packing establishments of 

 the West aflbrd examples of the extreme re- 

 finement to which the utilization of by-pro- 

 ducts may be carried. Not a scrap of the 

 slaughtered animal is wasted. Every portion 

 fit for food (even to the heart and liver) is 

 pickled and packed, and most, if not all, of it 

 exported to Europe. The fat, hoofs, horns, 

 hides, tails, hair and bones find re.ady .=ale in 

 the market, for various purposes in the indus- 

 trial arts ; and the final products usually 

 reach us in the form of dried blood and bone- 

 black, for the use of the sugar refiner and the 

 agriculturist. 



Until within comparatively a recent period 

 it had become a serious question as to what 

 use should be made of the slag which is pro- 

 duced in such quantities during the smelting 

 of iron ore ; human ingenuity at length solved 

 the problem, and produced from this intractable 

 material a white flocculent substance, known 

 as "mineral wool," which at once found numer- 

 ous applications in the arts. Within the last 

 tew yeai's no industry, perhaps, has made 

 greater strides than that of paper making, 

 both as regards the material of its manufac- 

 ture and the aiiplications of the jiroduct. 

 Paper wheels for railway cars, paper chimney- 

 pots for dwelling houses, and paper plates and 

 teacups for temporary use for travelers, must 

 suffice as illustrations. 



Of course it would be imjiossible within the 

 limits of so short an article to refer t6 any 

 more than a few of the more prominent ex- 

 amples of the use of refuse. We have inten- 

 tionally omitted very many ; but the few that 

 we have given will serve the purpose we have 

 in view of showing to how great an extent 

 civilization is adding to the useful products of 



the world, both by economizing its resources 

 and calling forth new ones by the aid of 

 chemistry. — Scientific American. 



[In addition to the above use of the slag or 

 scoria of iron furnaces we read an article, 

 some years ago, that in England the experi- 

 ment "had been made of running it into hot 

 moulds of various forms, and used as building 

 blocks, especially in the form of lintels, sills, 

 mantles, cornices, corner-blocks, column cap- 

 pings of the difl'erent architectural orders, m 

 arched window and door headings, chimneys, ^ 

 and various other uses, where they are not 

 exposed to flre heat. The first attempts were 

 failures, inasmuch as the slag had been run 

 into cold moulds and became too porous. 

 Subsequently hot moulds were substituted, 

 which was said to be a success, as the articles 

 came out of the moulds as solid as glass. We 

 have not seen anything recently on the sub- 

 ject ; perhaps the substance is too soft and 

 lirittle to stand the test of wear and tear, as 

 was the case with those introduced from a 

 neighboring county as paving tiles, and which, 

 so far as our observation extends, are far in- 

 ferior to common brick ; but for other inside 

 purposes this material may be eventually 

 utilized. — Ed.] ■ 



OwixG to unforeseen c<jntingencies neither 

 the Tobacco-Growers' Association nor the 

 Linnican Society held Iheir usual meetings in 

 the month of May. 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The Pennsylvania State Board of As;nculture licUl 

 its rcffular annual raeetini; at Doylestown on Tluirs- 

 day and Friday, May :!0 and Sist, wliicli was at- 

 tended l)y quite a lartre number of distiuijuislied 

 aentlemcn, amonp: wliom was (iov. Hartranft. Tlie 

 session was opened on Tliursday morning with Hon. 

 M. C. Beebe, Vice President, in the chair, and Secre- 

 tary Edge in place. Tlie tii'st exercise was an a<l- 

 dress of welcome, delivered hy Mr. Henry T. Dar- 

 lington, senior editor of tl'.c Bucks County Tiilelli- 

 genccr. At the close of his addi'css Mr. Beebe replied 

 on the part of tlie Board in a titting manner, and the 

 session then settled down to its regular business. 



Among reports from the special committees pre- 

 seuteil was one from Mr. Beebe, from a comniittee 

 appointed to consider the question of improving the 

 fence law of the State. Tlie law of the State in this 

 particular, as defined liy the Supreme Court, applies 

 to grass and grain fields — such fences to be live ici^t 

 high, and made close at tlie bottom, to exclude ani- 

 mals. Those not having such fences are liable for 

 damages done by stock iu the fields. This dates 

 back to 1700. The common law requires stock to be 

 kept in close fields, but this is modified by the act of 

 Assembly in Pennsylvania. Improved land must be 

 fenced, else the owner cannot recover damage done 

 by stray cattle. Tlie inference is th.it there is no 

 application to woods and unenclosed lauds. This 

 act was passed when tlie country was new and 

 fencing materials plenty — when logs and rails could 

 easily be h.ad by everybody. When the population 

 increased the law seemed to fall into disuse, and the 

 courts made decisions whicli meant almost anything. 

 The act of 17S4, a]>i)lyiug to a few western counties, 

 was the same in substance as that of 1700, but making 

 the height 41^ instead of .5 feet, and fixing the space 

 between the rails at five inches. The repeal of these 

 two acts, and the restoration of the common law, is 

 all that can reasonably be asked for of the Legisla- 

 ture. That would require owners only to fence in 

 their own cattle, and not to fence out those of their 

 neighbors. This is now the rule in several other 

 States. The time may come when it will be possible 

 to have all fences removed, and have cattle kept 

 within still closer bounds. The committee therefore 

 recommended the repeal of the laws of 170U and 

 17X4, so that the common law as stated shall take 

 eft'ect. This report was adopted by the board. 

 Secretary Edge stated that the value of fences in 

 this State amounted to over $79,000,000, and that it 

 requires a dollar's worth of fence to keep a dollar's 

 worth of stock in place. 



Easburu Reeder, member of the board from Bucks, 

 reaii a paper on the cost of making butter per pound. 

 He stated that the Solebury Farmers' Club, of which 

 he is a member, settled upon '^7 cents per pound for 

 the whole year, but according to his calculation 'SO 

 cents was about the proper amount. The estimate 

 of Willis Hazard, of Chester county, however, made 

 it :il cents. According to the report of the board,J 

 the average price of producing butter in the whol^ 

 State was 1.5;4^ cents in summer and 1^05;^ cents 

 winter. Mr. Hazard said there is a profit gained ili 

 the use of farms th.at is not taken into account. Ha 

 contidered iV'r. Keeder's statement correct. The 

 average product in Chester county is 152 pounds pen 

 cow, at an average cost of 31 cents per year. 



