S44 



STAECH-PRODUCING PLAIfTS. 



and nutritious articles of food. Already has it become an indis- 

 pensable household article, and is consumed largely at home and 

 abroad. The factory, though in its infancy, consumes annually 

 . 150,000 bushels of corn, equal to about nine millions of pounds in 

 weight. Hitherto the quantities of starch used for laundry pur- 

 poses- and in the manufactories of America, have been produced 

 from costly wheats, though it may be found in many vegetable 

 substances, such as potatoes, the horse chesnut and other seeds. 

 In England, where bread-stuffs, particularly wheat, have been 

 raised in quantities inadequate to the demand for food, attempts 

 have been made to convert the viscid matter of lichens into a gum, 

 for the use of calico printers, paper makers, and ink makers ; for the 

 stiffening of silks, crapes, and the endless variety of dry goods, 

 which, by means of these gums or starch, are made to appear of 

 greater consistency. Most of these attempts had partial success, 

 yet the making of starch from w^heat has not been arrested. 



The Oswego starch factory has happily introduced the use of 

 Indian corn, as a grain producing a larger proportion of pure 

 amylaceous properties than any other known vegetable substance, 

 proffering to the American manufacturer another economic advan- 

 tage, sustaining, in a most legitimate matter, sound rivalry and com- 

 petition with all the world. I am not aware whether the Oswego 

 factory has converted its starch into gum — a process easily accom- 

 plished by heat, and thus rendered soluble in cold water, which 

 cannot be done while in its condition of starch. Here is another 

 result of vast importance derivable from Indian corn; and we can 

 well conceive that, in a short period of time, the advantages now 

 derived from the production of corn starch, may have grown into 

 a national benefit. 



liice (accordijjg to Prof. Solly) contains on an average about 

 84 per cent of starch ; but till comparatively a few years ago, no 

 starch was manufactured from it, notwithstanding its low price, 

 and the large quantity of starch which exists in it. The reason of 

 this was, that the old process of fermentation, by means of which 

 starch is procured from grain, was not found to be applicable to 

 rice ; and hence the latter only became available as a source of 

 starch in 1840, when Mr. Orlando Jones introduced his new pro- 

 cess, for which he obtained a patent. This process consisted in 

 macerating the rice for about 20 hours in a dilute solution of 

 caustic potash, containing about 200 grains of the alkali in every 

 gallon ; the liquor is then drawn off, the rice dried, reduced to 

 pow^der by grinding, then a second time digested in a similar 

 alkaline lye for 24 hours, repeatedly agitated. After this it is 

 allowed to settle, and w^ell washed with pure cold water. A prize 

 medal was awarded for this rice starch at the Great Exhibition. 



Mr. S. Berger, of Bromley, also received a prize medal. He 

 adopts a different mode of preparation. In place of emplojdng a 

 dilute solution of caustic potash to dissolve the gluten and other 

 insoluble matters of the grain, Mr. Berger uses a solution of car- 

 bonate of soda, containing half a pound to the gallon. The rice 



