The Daily News. TUESDAY, MAY 31, 1904. THE VALUE OF MAIZE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 125, 31 May 1904, Page 2

The Daily News. TUESDAY, MAY 31, 1904. THE VALUE OF MAIZE.

Visitors to native settlements cannot fail to'be impressed by the large stores of well-grown maize which form the Maoris' vegetable provender for the winter months. This is grown with a minimum of labour and trouble, and the results of the cropping go to show that the district is well suited to its cultivation. Nothing but the cobs of grain, however, are saved, the stalks being treated as having no commercial value. A contemporary in the Bay of Plenty notes that the same practice is in vogue there, and that it prevailed in the original home of maize culture, America, till less than a decade ago, but since then a far-reaching revolution has been in progress, and an exteusiye new industry, with vast possibilities, has sprung up, built solely on the maize-stalk, which has been proved to huve a high commercial value for the malting of several substances in universal use in the civilised world Hitherto the American farmer has been found, by careful investigation, to have derived from his mai/.e stalks, after the corn has been picked, an average of half a crown an acre, that sum representing the food value of the stalks; now, in areas within reasonable distance of works established for the treatment of the stalks, he can make a further sum of 25s to 50s per acre, for no further labour than cutting and delivering the stalks. The value of this hitherto practically waste product consists in the fuel that it has been found that from it can bo manufactured cellulose, paper, pyroxylin varnish and several forms of foods for farm stock. The first of these alone has an enormous range of uses l , beginning with that of providing packing for the tilling of tha coflordams round tho wateiiine of warships, to exclude water, in the event of their being pierced by shot or shell, the material swelling enormously in bulk when damped by water. Another use of cellulose is as a base for smokeless powders and other explosives made by nitrating, it being found superior for these purposes to the cotton formerly in general use. Again it forms the best non-conductor known against heat and electricity, and as an iusuluting packing for cool chambers on trains, steamers, etc., it is said to have ho equal, as while all other substances tend to settle down and leave spaces When exposed to vibration and slinking, cellulose expands under these circumstances, and tho better tills the space. As a basis for paifcr-making, tho maize stalk bids fair to stem the tide of devastation which has been sweeping away the forests of America at so alarming a rate of lute years. We need not follow at length all the uses to which applied science, has found that the maize stalk can be turned, and is now actually being turned by more than one huge factory in America, built solely for the purpose of treating it for the profit of all concerned. It is always well to have the storied two strings to the bow, and more if possible. There seems to be a chance of an industry being established in the colony for the treatment of the maize stalks, and it will be interesting to know whether the cultivation of maize can be made remunerative by the disposal of the corn as fodder and of the stalks for any of the purposes above mentioned.