54 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol. 3 



INTEKESTING BEPOKT OF THE COM- 

 MISSIONER OF PATENTS. 



Indian Com for Oil — Sugar from Com Stalks. — 

 Lard fur Oil. — Silk.—Statislicnl Table. — Agri- 

 cultural Patents. 



The Commissioner has favored us with this im- 

 portant document. Mr. Ellsworth is entitled to 

 the highest credit for his industry and zeal, espe-' 

 cially in every thing connected with agricultural 

 improvement. The report discloses enough to 

 encourage the friends of an improved and extend- 

 ed husbandry, if even they may calculate upon a 

 tithe of what is promised. Immense, however, 

 as the agricultural produce of the country is des- 

 tined to become, we fenr that the picture is too 

 highly coloured, and expectations held out which, 

 in our humble opinion, may not be immediately 

 realized. We acknowledge ourselves a little more 

 than surprised at some of the statements. 



We quote the following from the letter of the 

 Commissioner : — 



" The value of the agricultural products almost 

 exceeds belief. If the application of the sciences 

 be yet further made to husbandry, what vast im- 

 provements may be anticipated ! To allude to but 

 a single branch of this subject. Agricultural 

 chemistry is at length a popular and useful study. 

 Instead of groping along with experiments, to 

 prove what crops lands will bear to best advantage, 

 an immediate and direct analysis of the soil shows 

 at once its adaptation for a particular manure or 

 crop. Some late attempts to improve soils have 

 entirely failed, because the very article, transport- 

 ed at considerable expense to cnrieh them, was 

 already there in tno great abundance. By the aid 

 of chemistry, the WcSt will soon find one of tlieir 

 greatest articles of export to be oil, both for burn- 

 ing and for the manufactures. So successful have 

 been late experiments, that pork (if the lean part 

 is excepted) is converted into stearine for candles, 

 a substitute for Spermaceti, as well as into the oil 

 before mentioned. The process is simple and 

 cheap, and the oil is equal to any in use. 



Late improvements, also, have enabled e:rpr*-- 

 imenters to obtain sufficient oil from corn meal "o 

 make this profitable, especially when the residuum 

 is distilled, or, what is far more de.sirable, fed out 

 to stock. The mode is by fermentation, and the 

 oil which rises to the top is skimmed off, and 

 ready for burning without further process of man. 

 ufacture. The quantity obtained is 10 gallons in 

 100 bushels of meal. Corn may be estimated as 

 worth 1& cents per bushel for the oil alone, where 

 oil is worth §1 50 per gallon. The extent of the 

 present manufactur* of this corn oil may be con- 

 jectured from the desire of a single company to 

 obtain the privilege of supplying the light-houses 

 on the upper lakes with this article. If Iroin 

 meal and pork the country can thus be supplied 

 with oil for burning and for machinery and manu- 

 factures, chemistry iJ indeed already applied most 

 beneficially to aid husbandry. 



A new mode of rdisitig corn trebles the saccha- 

 rine quality of the stalk, and, with attention, it is 

 confidently expected that 1000 pounds of sugar 

 per acre may be obtained. Complf;te success has 

 attended the experiments on this subject in Dela- 

 ware, and leave no room to doubt the fact that, if 

 the stalk is permitted to rnature without sufl"ering, 

 the ear to form, the saccharine matter (three times 

 as great as in beets, arid equal to cane) will amply 

 repay the cost of manufacture into sugar. This 

 plan has heretofore been suggested by German 

 chemists, but the process has not been successfully 

 introduced into the United States, until Mr. Webb's 

 experiments at Wilmington, the last season. With 

 him the whole W'as doubtless original, and certain- 

 ly highly meritorious ; and, though he may not be 

 able to obtain a patent, as the first original inven- 

 tor, it is hoped his services may be secured to per- 

 fect his discoveries. It may be foreign tp descend 

 to further particulars in an annual report. A mi- 

 nute account of these experiments can be furnish- 

 ed, if desired. Specimens of the oil, candles, and 

 sugar, are deposited in the National Gallery. 



May I be permitted to remark that the formation 

 of a National Agricultural Society has enkindled 

 bright anticipations of improvement. The pio- 

 pitious time seem? to have come for a,?ricuUure, 



i^^: 



that long neglected branch of industry, to present 

 her claims. A munificent bequest is placed at the 

 disposal of Congress, and a shafe of this, with 

 private patronage, would enable this association 

 to undertake, and, it is confidently believe' 

 complish much good. ./^ .r^^^t/M,-^ 

 , X INDIAN CORN MEAL FOR 6\ 



It is added in the report, " that it is said that 

 the meal, after the oil has been extracted, will 

 make harder and better pork when fed out to 

 swine than before. The oil is of a good quality 

 and burns well." These are certainly extraordi- 

 nary facts and we shall wait with some impatience 

 for their verification. We should be glad to iTnow 

 whether the meal remaining after the oil has been 

 extracted, is of snfBcient value to pay the cost of 

 extracting the oil ; and whether, after passing 

 through this process, it can be kept any length of 

 time. That the corn after going through this pro- 

 cess will make harder pork, is not improbable ; 

 but Ihht it will make better pork is likely to de- 

 pend, it may be, somewhat upon our preference for 

 lean or fat pork. It is dillicult to settle questions 

 of animal nuti'ition, unless in such cases as that of 

 Dr. Beaumont, where the patient has an open 

 window into his stomach ; but, it is generally sup- 

 posed, that the oily part of the food was that 

 which went principally to form the fat of animals. 

 That Indian Corn should yield the farmers fifteen 

 cents a bushel, unless the residuum is of equal 

 value with the oil extracted, is, however, not a 

 great encouragement to its production even on the 

 rich prairies and alluvions of the West. Their 

 average crop, unless with extraordinary cultiva- 

 tion, in Illinois, for example, is not more than 

 forty bushels per sicre ; but put it at sixty, the 

 product would be only nine dollars. Now deduct 

 the ploughing, which is not less than two dollars ; 

 the planting not less than a dollar ; the cultivation, 

 eveti with a horsfe harrow oiily, not less than 

 one dollar more ; the harvesting, which must be 

 two dollars ; the husking and cribbing, which must 

 be three dollars more ; and the cost of the land 

 and fencing, and other expenses of management, 

 there will not be a very larje profit remaining, 

 unless we can pay for our labor at fifteen cents, 

 or a bushel of corn per day. We say nothing of 

 the grinding of the corn, which we know, atone 

 of the'principal mills in Illinois, costs three picay- 

 unes, or eighteen and three quarter centsper bush- 

 el. But domestic mills may be introduced. We 

 are not willing, however, to say more on this sub 

 ject until we know more. Perhaps, with our im 

 perfect information, we have already said too 

 much. 



SUGAR FROM CORN STALKS. 



Another great article of product spoken of in 

 the report, is that of Sugar from Corn Stalks. 

 " A new mode of raising corn, trebles the saccha- 

 rine quality of the stalk.'' This is certainly an 

 extraordinary discovery. The stalks of corn, if 

 gathered before the ear is formed, it is here stated, 

 yield of saccharine matter three times as much as 

 the beet, five times as much as the maple, and ful- 

 ly equal, if they do not succeed, that of the ordi- 

 nary sugar cane in the United States. •' One thou 

 sand pounds of sugar, it is believed, can easily be 

 produced from an acre of corn. It has been as- 

 certained, by trial, that corn on being sown broad 

 cast [and so requiring but little labor, compara- 

 tively, in its cultivation,] will prodir'cc five pounds 

 per square foot, tqtiallo WStonslo the acre for f od- 

 dt.r in a green state; audit is highly probable that 

 when subjected to the treatment necessary to pre- 

 pare the stalk, as above described, in the best 

 manner for the manufacture of sugar, a not less 



amount of crop may be produced. Should this 

 prove to be the case, one thousand iceighl of sugar 

 per acre, might be far too low an estimate. Should 

 the manufacture of sugar from the corn stalk 

 rove as successful as it now promises, enough 

 might soon be produced to supply our home con- 

 sumptioh, towards which, as has been mentioned, 

 at least 120 millions of pounds of foreign sugars 

 are annually imported, and a surplus might be had 

 for exportation. " 



These statements may well be called startling ; 

 but we must be pardoned if we consider them, in 

 some measure, of the niuUicaidis variety. We 

 have a high respect for Mr. Ellsworth ; we believe 

 there is not a better ofiiccr in the government ; and 

 that no man living would be more reluctant to 

 make a mistatement than himself But we want 

 a good many more facts and experiments in the 

 case, before we can yield entire confidence to such 

 predictions. The whole, for aught that appears, 

 grows out of a statement of a Mr. AVebb, of Del- 

 aware, given in our November number, who ob- 

 tained from a small piece of ground at the rate of 

 100 lbs. of sugar to an acre, and who states that 

 further experiments showed conclusively that the 

 produce might be increased ten-fold. Now we 

 have no desire to question Mr. Webb's veracity ; 

 but it will be observed in the first place, that he 

 has not yet obtained 100 lbs. to an acre, but only 

 at that rate ; and in the second place, that although 

 experiments to him have conclusively shown that 

 a thousand pounds may be obtained to an acre, 

 yet we do not know what those experiments were, 

 and the conclusitin Is fnattec of inference or private 

 judgment. We shall be exceedingly glad to be set 

 right on this subject. 



The calculation of producing green corn fodder 

 at the rate of 103 tons to an acre, is, we believe, 

 more easily asserted than prbved. We should ■ 

 like facts in this case much better than conjecture. 



Tall meadow oat grass has yielded, green, at the 

 rate of 16, 33.") lbs. per acre, and dried, 5717 lbs. 

 Millet has yielded, ^rcen, at the rate of 12,251 lbs. 

 per acre, and when dried, 4747 lbs. Herds grass, 

 when green, 40,837 lbs., and dried, 17,353 lbs., or 

 when cut after the seed is ripe, 19,397 lbs. A 

 crop of Herds Grass producing when cured, 17,- 

 355 lbs., is indeed enormous ; and what very few 

 among us have ever seen, less than five tons be- 

 ing the largest measured crbbj which has come 

 within our knowledge. We have never known a 

 crop of green corn fodder weighed, when cut for 

 fodder, but we have given in our last No. the weight 

 of an acre of corn fodder of the gourd seed variety, 

 when cured, including husks, and yielding 66 bush- 

 els of grain per acre, and th''; whole amount of that 

 was 2 tons, 13 cwt., 13 lbs. In the case of herds, 

 grass, the proportion of green weight bore to the 

 dried as 40 to 17 or as 20 to 8 tons. If we may 

 infer any thing from this fact in regard to Indian 

 Corn, we may reckon the green fodder from such 

 a yield of corn as 6 to 7 tons. It would, however, 

 be much more than this, if the corn had been 

 sown broadcast ; and perhaps may be quadrupled. 

 Conjecture, hovyever, is idle in a case where, w.e 

 hope, we may .';oon have facts. It is supposed in 

 the case of the Renort, that the corn is to be sow. 

 ed broad cast ano^ield at the rate of five ponndo 

 to a square, foot. This is a remarkable calcula- 

 tion ; and if corn is sowsd thus thickly, ho^y is it 

 to be got at to pluck off the ears, which is said to 

 be a necessary part of the process? A few months 

 aowever, will settle this ; and if an acre of corn, 

 )y the mode described or any other mode, can be 

 •Bade to yield five hundrsd pounds of sugar, we 



