NEW CROPS IN THE UNITED STATES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 60, 27 March 1937, Page 15

NEW CROPS IN THE UNITED STATES

Artichokei and Soy Beans Successful SOURCE 0F OlL AND FUEL American farmers have constantly been experimenting with new crops from foreigu couutries, aud some of these efforts to' adapt products of fOreign origin to American soil haVe been very successful, particularly iu the cases of wh'eat and cotton, states Dr. Thomas Beck, in a recent article in the "Chicago Sunday Tribune." Since the World War we have seen the phenomenal • gfrowth of the cultivation Of the sOy bean, which was brought tb America ffom the Far East. This Can sc&rcely be called a uew agrieultural product. It is worth mentioniug, however, that its value to the fatmer fflay irt time be epualled by its importahce to the manufacturer because of the wide vatiety of applications that can be made of its products. At the present time the most itoportaiit of these products is the oil that is extracted from the beans. Purified BO'y beAn oil has prOperties Which lie about midway bOtWeCtt those of linseed and cotton Seed oilS. It is therefore in a position to compCte, at least to a limited degree, with either of them. With suitable refining, it can be used as a food or for soap making. It also can replace considerable amounts of the more expensive linseed oil in the paint and varnish fields. Semi-Drying OiL The value of linseed oil lies in the fact that it is a dfying oil; that is, itis capable of absorbing oxygen from the air to change from a liquid to a tough, elastio solid. Soy bean oil, on the other hand, is what is known as a semidrying oil. It absorbs oxygen to form' a resiflous material, but wheii nsed aldne it never becomes completely solid. Its value in the paiut itidustry lies solely in its use When blended With other materials, such as linseed oil or certain synthetic resiils. It is not an adulterant When ioixed with linseed oil, as it produces useful modifications in the action of the latter, The quest for oils for paint and varnish has suggested two new crops for American agriculture. As stated above, linseed oil is a drying oil, aud a very good one. That honour gbes to perilla oil, which is. pressed from the seeds of a small plant grown in Manchukuo and China. Perilla oil is a little too pronounced in its drying properties to be used alone, but when blended with soy bean oil it makes an effective competitor for linseed oil. The tremendous increase in soy bean production has led to heavy imports of perilla oil from Japan during the last year or so. As & result experiments are being made to determine whether or uot these seeds can be profitably grown on American soil. Another agrieultural produot that is attracting considerable attention is the Jerusalem artichoke. The name is not aptly chosen, as it is not an artichoke, but a plant related to the sunflower. MoreovOr, it has nOthing to do with the Holy City, for it probably originated in America, and is now cultivated chiefly in Europe. Its economic value lies in the fact that its roots store up food in the form of ,tubers resembling sweet potatoes. These tubers contain large amounts of a sugar known a*» levulose, which is chemically different from cane and beet sugar, but is equally nutritious, and is about 50 per cent. sweeter. ' Its chief fault is the fact that it is considerably more difficult to Tefine. The material can now be prepared commercially, but at. a price that prevents direct eompetition with other sugars. However, it may find a limited use, because of its greater sweetness, as a constituent of diets for those whose sugar intake must be limited. Source of Industrial Alcohol. Jerusalem artichokes probably are more important as a potential source of industrial alcohol. For this purpose the sugar can be fermented without previous refining. The plant grows with the vigor of a weed. Efforts are bejng made to cultivate pyrethrum^ flowers, one of the munitions in the" war , against insects. The best way of fighting insect pests is by means of poison. There are two kinds. One kills the insect that eats it. Poisons of thiB type have the defect of being equally poisonous to men and animals, and consequently must be removed at considerable cost before the plant can be used for .any human purposes. .The other type of inseeticide is the socalled contact poison. It is not quite clear how poisons of this type attack insects, but their effort is to produce death through paralysis of the nervous system. The nicotine or tobacco dusts long used, by florists are examples of this type of poison. So are the household sprays that are used against flies and mosquitoes. Contact poisons ar{ in general much less poisonous to men and the higher animals than they are to insects. The principal contact poisons are of vegetable . origin, and, with the exception of the tobacco products mentioned above, are all imported. The materials used in most of tlie fly sprays, rotenone and extracts Of derris roOt or cube root, are produced in tropical climates, and are consequently of little ptomise as possible American erops.

Pyrethrum flowers, on the other hand, show promise as a future addition to our agrieultural weatlh. They are the dried and powdered flowers of a small plant which origi'nally Came from JugoSlavia. At the present time the bulk of the world 's production is in tho

hands of the Japanese. It is claimed that the flowers are most eoncentrated in poison when grown in a hot, dry climate.