PRODUCTS FROM STALK AND LEAVES 343 



"Corn Down," which is secured by chaffing the cob in the manu- 

 facture of cob pipes, and in cleaning out the shelled corn used in the 

 various mills, is used in upholstering and in padding mattresses. 



PRODUCTS DERIVED FROM THE PLANT ITSELF 



FROM THE STALK. A good quality of paper is produced from 

 corn stalks at a cost of $25 to $26 a ton. Paper from wood pulp or rags 

 costs from $66 to $75 a ton. Over $100,000 has been spent in the per- 

 fection of machinery for the handling of this material. A recently pat- 

 ented threshing machine separates the stalks from the leaves, delivers 

 the stalks bound in bundles, ready for shipment, and the remainder 

 of the plant into the barn ready for stock. The stalks are sent to a 

 depithing plant, where the casing of the stalk is removed, leaving the 

 soft pith ready to be rolled, into ordinary paper. The coarser pith is 

 manufactured into stiff box-board. 



The New Corn Product. The Naval Department of the United 

 States Government has conducted extensive experiments with corn 

 pith for use in vessels, and the results have been so satisfactory that 

 it has been adopted and specified for use in the construction of all new 

 vessels. A number of European nations, also, have adopted it, and 

 others have commissions for the investigation of the material, looking 

 to its adoption. 



This extensive use of corn pith means a market for a product 

 which has been almost entirely wasted heretofore. After the pith has 

 been removed, the shell or the balance of the stalk is ground up into 

 a sort of meal known as the "New Corn Product." While this is per- 

 haps of little value to the average corn grower, yet it is of value to the 

 manufacturers engaged in the extraction of the pith used in the man- 

 ufacturing of ships. Immense quantities of corn stalks are used to 

 secure the pith for one battleship. 



By digesting cellulose in nitric acid, or a mixture of nitric and sul- 

 phuric acids, a nitrate is formed commonly known as guncotton. Ni- 

 tro-glycerin and this guncotton form smokeless gun powder. Corn 

 stalks are rapidly becoming an important source of the cellulose used 

 in these operations. Pyroxylin varnish, a liquid by-product in the 

 manufacture of cellulose, has many practical uses. 



FROM THE LEAVES. The leaves, outer shell of the stalk, and 

 other refuse remaining from the manufacture of cellulose, are ground 



