320 THE BOOK OF CORN 



economic value. The principal of these are com oil 

 and oil cake, oil cake meal; various grades of cattle 

 feed in the shape of gluten feed, bran, etc. 



Cornstalks in Mechanic Arts — Another line of 

 products in which exploitation is just beginning is 

 secured by a complete utilization of cornstalks. The 

 full economic possibility of the stalk is not yet under- 

 stood, but practical experience to some extent and 

 laboratory experiments still further demonstrate that 

 enormous wealth-producing possibilities are wasted in 

 the failure to utilize cornstalks. Scientific tests have 

 demonstrated that there is as much economic value in 

 the stalks as in the crop of grain they bear, but up to 

 this time the mechanical difficulties in the economical 

 handling of the stalks have not been fully overcome. 

 Good progress, however, has been made in that direc- 

 tion, and it will only be a question of time until inven- 

 tive genius will solve the problem. 



The most important product which is now a com- 

 mercial success is the manufacture of cellulose from 

 the pith of the cornstalk. This product has numerous 

 chemical uses, but the important mechanical want 

 which it fills is its availability for use as a packing 

 between the inner and outer shell of warships. Upon 

 contact with water it swells enormously and thus auto- 

 matically closes water tight any aperture made by a 

 shell or projectile piercing the ship's armor. The use 

 of a backing of this kind is now specified in the con- 

 struction of war vessels by nearly all naval nations. 



After the pith is extracted the remainder, chive 

 or outer casing of the stalk, leaves and tassels, are 

 ground into a coarse meal which careful experiments 

 have shown to have a nutritive value for stock feeding 

 little diflferent from clover or timothy hay. In labora- 

 tory experiments numerous other products have been 

 made, alcohol, paper, smokeless powder, etc, and there 



