u 



1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



241 



Paper from Com Husks. 



For many years the Austrian Govemmen have 

 encouraged a series of experiments made to test 

 the value of Indian corn husks for making paper, 

 and from the manufactured samples we have seen 

 it appears that so far as the practicability is con- 

 cerned, the scheme has been successful. 



It is apparent that some substitute for rags is 

 very much required, for the supplies are yearly 

 becoming scarcer ; more particularly since the 

 war, when the cotton market has been so scantily 

 filled. Certain kinds of the softer woods are now 

 used to a great extent in the manufacture of paper, 

 and the peculiar machines and processes necessary 

 to work this substance have been brought lo gieat 

 perfection ; and wood paper may in time supply a 

 portien of the demand for the ordinary purposes 

 of business at a cheap rate. 



Paper, it is well known, can be made from a va- 

 riety of substances ; but the cost of manipulation 

 is in many cases too great to make them available. 

 It is one objection urged against the use of corn 

 husks for paper that the stock commands at this 

 time a very high price, seven or eight cents a lb. 

 simply for use in mattresses, and that if brought 

 forward as a substitute for rags, the demand would 

 run up the price immediately. Be this as it may, 

 the Austrian Government now makes paper of a 

 superior quality from corn husks alone, and puts 

 it in the market against rag paper. The Govern- 

 ment has an advantage which paper makers in this 

 country have not, and that is in being able to pur- 

 chase rags at first hands, so to speak ; the great 

 ports from which they are sent to this 

 country are chiefly in Austria or the im- 

 mediate vicinity. There are, moreover, other 

 points in the manufacture of paper from corn husks 

 which render an investigation into its value impor- 

 tant. The process of reducing the pulp or fiber 

 from which the paper is made, leaves the stouter 

 fibres or skeleton of the husk uninjured, and these 

 are easily woven into strong, stout cloth, or a fa- 

 bric resembling crash towelling. Still another re- 

 sultant, besides the paper stock and fiber is ob- 

 tained. This is the starch contained in the husk, 

 which is all saved , pressed into square cakes, and 

 afterwards ground into flour from which bread has 

 been made. It is not desirable for this use here, 

 it is certainly valuable for feeding animals It is 

 therefore clear that the corn husk is capable of a 

 variety of uses, and it is important that it should 

 receive serious attention. It is not reasonable to 

 suppose that the Austrian Government are spend- 

 ing time and money in the pursuit of a chimera, 

 and if it can be made an article of commerce in 

 that country, there is no reason 'why we too should 

 not reflect upou this subject. 



If we sleep upon mattresses made of husks, it is 

 plain by intelligent management we could turn 

 the material to much better advantage, and use 

 the fibers for bags ; we may extract the life sup- 

 porting principle, and set free the paper stock to 

 go abroad to our countrymen in the shape of week- 

 ly journals, and yet have mattresses from some 

 other and cheaper material. 



These are not schemes which we have briefly al- 

 luded to, but only an incomplefe record of the uses 

 to^ which the Indian corn plant is now put in Aus- 

 tria. Rolls upon rolls of cloth are manufactured 

 annually, and it is both stout and strong ; a sample 



can be seen at this office. The great question to 

 be looked at is simply — Will it pay ? The obvious 

 inierence is that if the Austrian Government finds 

 it advantageous to foster establishments for using 

 corn husks in this manner, manufacturers in this 

 country may at least examine into it with profit. 

 If it shall be found (and we are sanguine it will) 

 that corn husks can be put to better uses than 

 feeding cattle or stuffing mattresses, a very great 

 field is open for the development of a new source on 

 individual and national wealth. — Scietitific Ameri- 

 can. 



Com husks can be sold at three cts. a pound, 

 with a good profit. Our plan is to pick, or Jerk 

 the com. put it in the barn, and in bad weather or 

 evenings, husk it ; spread the husks in the same 

 loft to dry, and when dry run them through a 

 threshing machine. A railway power with separa- 

 tor is the best for this use. 



When the com is cut up and shocked a good 

 busker will save about one himdred lbs. per day of 

 husks. Of course the number of bushels husked 

 will be much less than when the husks are not 

 saved. — Ed. 



Ice-Period in America. 



The last number of the AUaniie McnUdy contains 

 an article by Prof. Agassiz on the glacial epoch in 

 America. Remains of tropical plants and animals 

 fouud in the rocks of the polar regions prove that 

 at one time the heat of the tropics extended over 

 the whole globe, but at a period long subsequent 

 to this — long even as geologists reckon time — ^the 

 temperate zones of the earth were far colder than 

 they are at present. The glacial epoch was next 

 to the last before the advent of man, while it was 

 preceded by forty-one others that have been ex- 

 amined and named, and perhaps each of these was 

 as long in duration as itself. 



In his article in the AUanAe Agassiz presents 

 the proof that at the glacial epoch the continent of 

 North America, as far south as the Ohio river in 

 its middle portion, was covered with a mass of ice 

 six thousand feet in thickness. This vast field of 

 ice was constantly moving southward with a slow 

 motion, but with irresistible power, cmshing the 

 rocks, grinding down the hills, plowing furrows 

 through the ledges, and covering the continent 

 with a confused mixture of sand, gravel and bould- 

 ers. 



This hurrying of the continent in ice to the 

 depth of more than a mile, destroyed of course all 

 life, both animal and vegetable, and through long 

 ages of solitude and desolation of an Arctic winter 

 prevailed over the land. After a time the return- 

 ing warmth of the earth melted away the ice, and 

 the retreating glacier was slowly followed by 

 springing plants, and by swarms of insects, birds 

 and qnadrupeds. 



Agassiz thus presents the evidence of the gla- 

 cier's thickness, extent and use : — 



"The slopes of the Allegheny range wherever 

 they have been examined, are glacier-worn to the 

 very top, with the exception of a few points ; but 

 these points are sufficient to give us data for the 

 comparison. Mount Washington for instance, is 

 over 6000 feet high, and the rough, unpolished sur« 



