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Show Keeping Up Vtlycienfe Science Service. WNU Service. Farms to Feed Our Factories of the Future Industrial Use of Farm Products Is Great Hope By L. F. LIVINGSTON President, American Society of Agricultural Ag-ricultural Engineers, In an Address. THE idea of the industrial use of farm crops as raw materials is not new. Years of scientific research are behind it, but the depression, from which we now seem to be emerging, has given it a prominence that makes it one of the major hopes of agriculture today. World changes in agriculture are tending to make nations more and more self-sustaining, which means that somehow we must broaden our markets at home. One way to do this Is by cultivating cultivat-ing on American soil those agricultural agri-cultural raw materials we now Import. Im-port. The other way Is by finding new uses for our crops in our manufacturing man-ufacturing industries. We are following fol-lowing both of these methods of development. Soy beans furnish the almost perfect example. Introduced In this country over a century ago from China, they were first grown In the South. Acreage was limited, however, and the beans were fed mainly to hogs. Practically none of the American production went into industrial use, regardless of the fact that soy bean oil was being be-ing imported from China for use in the paint industry. Then research re-search tackled the soy bean and a wholly different story may be told today. Soy Bean Acreage Increased. In 1035, almost 5,500,000 acres in 27 states were planted to soy beans alone, and an additional acreage was planted with corn and other crops for forage. This was an increase in-crease of one-third over 1934. Almost Al-most 21,000,000 pounds of American-produced soy bean oil was used by industry. About half of this went into the making of paint and varnish. The balance went into soaps, linoleum and oilcloth, printing print-ing inks, edible compounds, and various other Industrial" products, including automobiles. Gean shift knobs, engine distributor covers, ornamental door handles and other parts of automobiles are now being made out of soy bean meal. Casein, a dairy by-product used widely In industry and particularly in the manufacture of certain grades of paper, is another example exam-ple of what may be done with many farm-produced materials now Imported. Im-ported. According to the United States bureau of dairy industry, two-thirds of the casein required by American factories In 1920 was obtained abroad. As late as 1929, about one-half was Imported. However, How-ever, In 1934, all but 4 per cent of our industrial needs were supplied by home producers, who, with chemical and engineering aid, found that what could be accomplished by the dairymen of the Argentine and elsewhere was not beyond the ingenuity of Americans. The Farm Chemurgic council estimates es-timates that 50,000,000 acres may be planted to Industrial-use crops within the next ten years "if man sets himself to the task." The council estimates 8,000,000 new acres to provide wood pulp for paper pa-per and paper stock, a forecast that Is based on the success of the experiments by Dr. Charles H. ner-ty ner-ty with fast-growing southern pines. Possibilities in South. The South abounds In unexplored possibilities for new crops. In southern Florida they have found that coffee and cacao may be grown ' If sheltered by larger trees. Rubber Rub-ber from American-grown plants is still a possibility. Artificial temperature tem-perature control, to protect plants like the tung tree from winter frosts, Is gradually being developed to a practical stage, and what vistas vis-tas that will open to southern growers grow-ers only the future can -tell. No discussion of Industrial - nse crops can be complete without mentioning men-tioning cotton. Through chemical conversion Into cellulose Its uses have become literally hundreds. Cotton seeds, once a waste, now have a value of over J200.iWl.00o In a cotton crop of $1,500,000,000. Cotton seed oil, the hulls, the lin-ters, lin-ters, the meal and cake, all have become valuable materials. Coated Coat-ed fabrics such as "Fabrikoid" consume con-sume cotton by the millions of pounds. Cotton enters Into the manufacture man-ufacture of cements for leather, textiles and paper; Into waterproofing water-proofing compositions, smokeless powder, gun cotton, blasting gelatin, gela-tin, coal mine explosives, Into toilet toi-let articles, electric Insulators, motion-picture film, golf balls and women's fingernail polish. The list Is almost endless. |