OXJAPTTTD VT7TT 



CELLULOSE FERMENTATION 



Every farm boy knows that a stick of timber placed in the soil 

 rots. If he be an observing lad he knov^s that it is at the surface 

 of the soil that the decay is most active, and that the speed of the 

 decay varies with different wood and the soil in which it is 

 placed. It is far different in a light loose silt than it is in a 

 heavy tight clay. If he be of an inquisitive nature he has pulled 

 from the decaying wood the loose, light, pithy substance and 

 wondered why this change. What is the cause? Are such agen- 

 cies always injurious, or may they at times be beneficial? If at 

 times beneficial, when and where? Why does the post decay 

 more rapidly at the surface than it does within the soil? And 

 how does the farmer hope to prevent this decay by charring or 

 tarring the post? 



What is Cellulose? — ^The post is composed mainly of cellu- 

 lose, and cellulose next to water is the most abundant substance in 

 the vegetable kingdom. It is to the vegetable kingdom what the 

 bones are to the animal. It is especially abundant in the roots, 

 steams, and leaves of mature plants. In hay and coarse fodders 

 it constitutes from 30 to 40 per cent of the dry matter. Cotton, 

 linen, and paper are examples of nearly pure cellulose. The 

 term cellulose is used to designate a group of substances ranging 

 from the tender hemicellulose of the young green plants to the 

 complex resistant material of wood. In its natural condition it 

 is usually interlaid with gum-like substances. Bacteria may digest 

 these, leaving the more nearly pure cellulose, as is the case in the 

 retting of flax, or they may digest the true cellulose. 



Cellulose is peculiar in a number of ways: (i) It is very 

 widely distributed in the plant world, special plant tissues at times 

 containing as high as 90 per cent cellulose. It is very rare in 



