BULLETIN 



Contribution from tte Bureau of Plant Industry, Wm. A. Taylor, Chief. 

 February 2. 1915. 



(PROFESSIONAL PAPER.) 



AGRICULTURAL ALCOHOL: STUDIES OF ITS MANU 

 FACTURE IN GERMANY.^ 



By Edward Kremers, 

 8p€C-ial Agent, Plant Physiological and Fermentation Investigations. 



REVIEW OF THE PROBLEM OF MANUFACTURE. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The brandy (Branntwein) which in the fourteenth century was 

 brought over the Alps from Italy to Germany found in the fifteenth 

 century a competitor in a whisky (Kornbranntwein) which was 

 made from cereals. The distilled fermented grape juice (wine) of 



^ Early in the fiscal year 1907-8 the Bureau of Plant Industry began an investigation 

 of the problem of utilizing the waste and surplus products of American farms as a source 

 for the manufacture of denatured alcohol. In view of the vast possibilities of thlg in- 

 vestigation, involving important questions not only of agricultural but likewise of 

 economic and social import, it was deemed wise first of all to seek guidance from 

 European experience. It seemed especially desirable to study the situation in Germany, 

 where for a considerable period of time industrial alcohol from agricultural sources has 

 been most conspicuously successful. Accordingly, arrangements were made to send Dr. 

 Edward Kremers, of the University of Wisconsin, as special agent to visit those coun- 

 tries of Europe in which agricultural alcohol has been most prominently developed and 

 to study as thoroughly as his stay would permit those factors likely to prove most Im- 

 portant to America. As was anticipated, relatively little practical aid was obtained on 

 the agricultural phases of the problem from England, Belgium, Holland, or France, and 

 the greater part of Dr. Ivremers' attention was given to the conditions to be observed in 

 Germany. 



The preparation for publication of Dr. Kremers' report was undei'taken by Dr. Rodney 

 H. True, I'hyslologlst in Charge of the Office of Plant Physiological and Fermentation 

 Investigations, of this bureau. 



This report brings out the fact that the success of agricultural alcohol in Germany 

 is the result of long-continued experimcnt;ition, backed by a determination on the part 

 of those high In authority that the project should succeed. Private enterprise patrioti- 

 cally comblnf-d for this definite purpose radier than for private gain seems to have been 

 a factor hardly less effective. The development of agricultural alcohol is found to be 

 based on the principles of operation characteristic of manufacturing enterprises, and It 

 bearn little rcHemblance 1o the small farm enterprise to which many in this country have 

 looked forward. Alcohol Is seen to be not a S('i)jirable source of income to the German 

 landowner but a necessary factor In a large agil<;iiltural oixTation, the i)i-o(lts appearing 

 rather in enhanced land viiIuch, larger yhrl 's of grain and forage crops, niid In the dairy 

 products made possible by the crops produced. 



It Is perhaps not to be irxpected that America can prociM-tl along (he same lines as 

 Germany, but in our attempt to solve this problem of crops to alTord light, heat, and 

 power there Is much of value In the fir-rman exiierlence. — Wm. .\. Taymih, OMrf of 

 Bureau. 



74027'— Bull. 1S2— 15 1 



