OTHER USES OF THE MAIZE CROP 



795 



CHAP. 



Homer Holland of Massachusetts, and in 1 860 a patent was ,„„ 

 issued tor making paper pulp of corn cobs. Among the first XVII 

 serious experiments in manufacturing paper from maize were 

 those made just prior to i860 by Moritz Diamant, a Bohemian 

 who suggested to Baron Bruck, Austrian Minister of Finance, 

 a process for making paper from maize. The imperial paper 

 mill at Schlogemuhl, near Gloggnitz, undertook the manu- 

 facture under Diamant's direction ; the product was not quite 

 satisfactory either in quality or in cost of manufacture. His 

 first application for Government aid was in 1856. After the 

 unsuccessful experiment, followed by effectual efforts to induce 

 private individuals to continue the work, he made a second 

 request of the minister of finance, fortified with recommenda- 

 tions from judicious, practical men, and the experiments were 

 continued, but were not yet fully successful. To reduce the 

 cost a ' half-stuff factory ' was erected in a maize district, 

 designed to cut off the heavy expense of transportation of the 

 crude material. The product was so inferior that Diamant 

 became disheartened, absented himself, and was released from 

 his position, leaving the question unsolved. The cost of this 

 experiment was about $1 3,000, which had been advanced by the 

 imperial paper mill. The direction of the Schlogemuhl paper 

 mill, not disposed to discontinue the effort to make a good 

 and cheap paper, continued the experiments, aiming first to 

 reduce the cost of production and, secondly, to investigate the 

 cost of using only the finest husks enclosing the ear, rather 

 than the leaves of the stalk entire. The result was, if not a 

 material for paper cheap as rags, the discovery of a new fibre 

 capable of being spun and woven, and furnishing in its waste 

 a cheap paper. Specimens resulting from these Austrian 

 experiments were sent to the United States Department of 

 Agriculture. Among them were yarns to be used as a substi- 

 tute for flax in crash, and oilcloth made from it, with a variety 

 of papers, including ' Royal Chancery,' letter paper, flower 

 paper, cigarette paper, silk paper, and drawing paper, ranging 

 in price from $I'6o to .$4-80 per ream. 



" The progress made in perfecting the manufacture of 

 paper has of late been very satisfactory. Evidence of this is 

 abundantly afforded in the specimens recently received at the 

 U.S.A. Department of Agriculture from Dr. Chevalier Auer de 

 Welsbach, director of the imperial printing establishment at 

 Vienna and superintendent of the imperial paper mills at 

 Schlogemuhl, who had been unremitting in his efforts, which 



