Utilization of the Maize Plant. 437 



and elsewhere, Indian corn or maize constitutes the chief food 

 of the population, and is produced in such abundance that the 

 leaves and stalks can be obtained in immense quantities and at 

 a low price. Attempts to utilize these portions of the maize plant 

 are not altogether new, but Dr. Alois Eitter Auer von Welsbach 

 comes before the public with what appears to be a complete 

 scheme, and he has taken out patents for his inventions in the 

 chief countries of the world. In a paper before us, he divides 

 the products of maize refuse into three classes — fibrous, nutri- 

 tious, and paper-pulp. He extracts from the leaves of the plant 

 an organic substance, which he tells us resists putrefaction, and 

 which we therefore conclude cannot be rich in the nitrogenous 

 matters that constitute the chief value of the better kinds of 

 food. It may, however, be good, as we are informed, to mix 

 with flour, and it is stated to keep bread from getting, what is 

 termed, dry — a condition which is more dependent upon 

 molecular changes than upon actual loss of water by evapora- 

 tion. We have not had an opportunity of seeing or tasting 

 this material, but through the kindness of Martin Diosy, Esq., 

 the Hungarian wine-merchant, in Fenchurch Street, we have 

 received samples of the other articles which Dr. Welsbach' s 

 process affords. First, we have a handful of fibre like fine hemp ; 

 next, the same fibre spun into threads ; thirdly, the threads woven 

 into a strong coarse brown linen cloth, like fine sacking; fourthly, 

 a strong, partially bleached cloth, of good whitey-brown colour, 

 even texture, and considerable strength ; fifthly, sixthly, and 

 seventhly, we have finer and whiter qualities of the same kind 

 of cloth, which the ladies of the household pronounce capable of 

 being used for a variety of domestic purposes. After these, we 

 find pulp for paper making, bleached and unbleached, and then 

 comes a very interesting collection of paper of various kinds, 

 some stiff and suited for drawing, some exquisitely transparent 

 and firm, for tracing, others for writing and printing, some in 

 the curious condition of parchment-paper, and others again deli- 

 cate in texture, and of various ornamental tints. 



It is no business of ours to go into commercial details ; those 

 who need them may be referred to M. Diosy or Dr. Welsbach ; 

 we look at the matter merely in a scientific and technological 

 point of view, and regard the series of products before us as a 

 very interesting illustration of how many useful things may be 

 made out of a neglected portion of the vegetable world. 



The result of operations carried on at the Austrian Govern- 

 ment mills, near Vienna, is reported to show that three to three 

 and a-half hundred weight of maize leaves yield forty pounds of 

 thread, sixty pounds of paper-pulp and thirty of flour. We have 

 no details of the process of manufacture, but it is stated to be ex- 

 ceedingly simple. The economical value of the plan depends upon 



VOL. IV. — NO. VI. G G 



