Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 35, Number 270, Decatur, Adams County, 15 November 1937 — Page 14

PAGE SIX

Now Even Wool Is Made From Soy Beal

Manifold Odd Uses Being Developed For Ancient Plant

Products From Once Mysterious Oriental Legume Range From “Hay to Hairpins” Experts Say Soy beans are becoming an increasingly important factor in American agriculture. Almost unknown here two decades ago the soy bean has now become a plant of almost unlimited potentialities. Some one aptly has said "soy beans are used for everything from hay to hairpins.” Centuries ago the Chinese developed the uses of the beans for human foods, but until modern times knew little of the value of the plant or its products as food for land and animals. Their Oriental neighbors discovered the value of the meal as a fertilizer. The western world developed the plant as a legume and Americans discovered practically all the industrial uses of the products of the plant. In the western world, along with the increase in the industrial uses of the by product oil has come, rather laggardly. an increase in the uses of the food products of the soy bean. The uses of the soy bean plant are now truly manifold. The Chinese long ago. marveling at the foods which soja provided for humans, called the plant "the little honorable god,” and the western world, seing the industrial application increase, has called the soy beau the “wonder bean.” New Uses Found New industrial application of the products of the soya plant appear almost daily. The latest field of possible application is the use of soy bean casein in the production of synthetic wool—the second artificial fabric to be created by man and produced in nearly the same manner as rayon, the first manmade fabric after thousands of years of dependence on natural fibers. A commercial plant in Italy is now making synthetic wool from skimmed milk. One pound of coagulated skimmed milk produces one pound of wool. The casein in soy bean milk is equally, if not more so, applicable to the process. Industrial chemists in this country are now intensively studying the process for making synthetic wool. The margarin industry was the first of our industries to use considerable amounts of soy bean oil. In 1929 the margarin industry was using 750,000 pounds of soy bean oil annually and. in 1935. consumed 1,740.000 pounds out of the total of 91,166,000 pounds of soy bean i oil which went into industrial uses in this country. Valuable In Paint The paint and varnish industries, i which bought very little in 1929. purchased last year 13.003,000 pounds of soy bean oil. or 14 per cent of the total sold. The makers of compounds and vegetable short- > enings have increased their demand for soy bean oil in the last ten years and in 1935 purchased 52,452,000 pounds, or 56 per cent of the total. The manufacturers of edible products took last year slightly over 10 per cent of the output. Soap makers used in one year 2,549.000' pounds; linoleum factories 4,816,-' 000 pounds; makers of printing inks 52. and manufacturers of other products 1,665,000 pounds. With the Increase of oil produc-

Gone But Not Forgotten Constant replacement of machinery is part of the McMillen program. The old must give way to the new. This is just a scrap heap of old pipes and equipment which outlived their usefulness.

Need 77 Freight Cars To Haul Coke To Plant Everyone is familiar with coke as a potent source of heat. Most folks think of coke, if they are to buy any. in terms of one or two tons The Central Sugar Co. has to consider larger figures. Last season. for example, 734 tons of coke were used. Considering the figures over five years the total is 3,070 tons making an equivalent of 77 freight car loads. tion. the amount of soy bean oil meal — the by product — also increased in corresponding ration. The demand for the meal for plastics, casein extraction, glue making. human food, animal food, etc., increased sufficiently that no price crushing surplus hung over the market during the year. Before 1917 fewer than 500.000 acres of soy beans were grown in this country. Because soy beans were grown principally as a legume crop or to replace other crops by rains or drouth, the acreage fluctuated noticeably until about 1924. Since 1924 the total acreage devoted to soy beans has expanded at a rapid rate and in the last few years has grown by leaps and bounds. Soy Beans Can Take It A legume plant able to withstand drouth and is almost immune to insects yet possessing a variety suitable to all the soil and climatic conditions in nearly all of our agricultural states, the soy bean seeds were in demand for years by farmers who desired to improve crop rotation and soil fertility. By 1924 the farmers located in a crescent area crossing Indiana, lowa, Missouri. and Illinois were the principal suppliers of the demand for seeds from improved or purified varieties. The demand for seeds by 1931 was inactive but the demand for soy beans for processing was increasing and the farmers in the valley of this crescent area, which produced the best beans for oil extraction, continued to expand the crop of gathered soy beans. Increased demand for soy bean oil, oil meal and food products gave the soy bean crop the role of an “extra dividend” for agriculture, a part not contemplated by the system of “planned crops” originated in Washington. The return per acre of soy beans to the farmers was roughly equivalent in value to that which is • normally obtained from wheat. Measured, as a cash producer for the farmer, the soy bean crop ranked in 1935 fourth in importance among the cereal grains grown in this country, exceeding rye in value. Japanese penetration into China —a war type invasion labelled by diplomats as something else —seriously disturbed conditions in Manchuria and. while the production of soy beans decreased in the Orient, the production in the Unitec States rose to 5 per cent of the world’s total production in 1935. In 1934 the United States exported for the first time soy bean meal and in 1935 exported soy beans to processing mills located in Europe in direct competition with other producing countries. Thirty years

Feed And Soya Co. Office Presents Busy Picture L - - “ ”■ J ’ Jjttl AB AgL I uflL It is here that much of the routine business of McMillen Feed Mills and the Central Soya to. is transacted. Modern lighting and office equipment helps these workers in their tasks.

PURDUE AIDS PLOT TESTS Six Year Program On Fertilizations Os Beets Now In Progress The Purdue university agriculture experimental division is conducting a six-year program of fertilizer tests for sugar beets in cooperation with the Central Sugar company. The sugar company leased eight acres of ground from the KrickTyndall Tile company at the south edge of Decatur, and turned it over to Purdue for its use in conducting the fertilizer tests. The eight acres have been divided into 64 fertilizer test plots which are planted each year using different formulas of fertilizers and various methods of application. The fertilizer is applied in amounts from 200 to 800 pounds per acre. These tests have been completed for the first three years of the six, and, while results can not yet be accepted as final, they show conclusively the advantages of using applications of fertilizer on sugar beets. In fact, from results so far. between 98 and 99 per cent of the beet growers are now using fertilizer for their crops. The results show that for each dollar spent for fertilizer on the sugar beet crop, the grower can expect to receive $3 in return. Not only is the yield greatly increased, but the sugar content has been raised on the average of more than one-half per cent in the beets for the past three years. While each formula of fertilizer in whatever amount applied shows a definite profit from its use, the greatest returns have been from applications ranging from 200 to 400 pounds per acre.

The tests run on the Purdue fertilizer plots are repeated on experimental farms in each company field man’s territory to determine ’ their value in each particular locality. Altogether more than 200 fertilizer tests are conducted by the field men each season. | ago the soy bean was practically J unknown outside the Orient and today world imports amount to about 70.000,000 bushels of soy beans and 150,000 tons of soy bean oil. Until two years ago, the United States was an importer of oil and soy beans. Boon To Farmers The rise of mechanical inventions and the science of working with metals and minerals lead to a downward trend in the utilization of agricultural products. On the other hand, sueh inventions and metals gave the farmer such new powers of production that output outran national and international food requirements in peace times. When the automobile came upon the scene more than one-half of all the products consumed came from the farm, and within twenty-five years the percentage of the total of all products coming from the farm, was less than 33 per cent. The soy bean —a hearty plant which does not rob the soil and produces bountifully complex chemical molecules vital to the preparation of many foods and the starting point for numerous chemical operations — points the way to restore the balance between agriculture and industry. (Chicago Journal of Commerce)

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1937.

Conveyor Belt At Plant Is 888 Feet In Length One of the many and novel features of the new Central Soya Co equipment is an endless conveyor belt 888 feet long. This belt which is 20 inches in width, travels on ball-bearing idlers and can carry 3,000 bushels of soy beans per hour from the storage tanks to the extraction plant. Incidentally it requires a 15 horse power motor to operate the belt. o AMERICAN SOY SAUCE SLICES IMPORT NEED Popular Relish' Prized By Orientals Now Being Produced Successfully Soy sauce, used extensively hy oriental peoples in cooking, as a relish or condiment to increase the flavor of all dishes and as an aid to food assimilation, is made by ’ crushing and grinding a mixture of cooked beans and pulverized • barley, innoculating with a culture known as rice ferment and leaving in vats for six to eighteen months to ferment. The juice is then drained and filtered, salt and spices added. The recipe for this dark-brown liquid, used on chop suey and other typical dishes, has been a closely guarded secret handed down for generations in a limited number of Chinese families. However, within the last few years, the chemists of American firms discovered a more satisfactory recipe and the output of these factories, making the sauce from domestic beans, has so captured the market in this country among the Orient-reared citizens that imports of the sauce have been greatly reduced. (Chicago Journal of Commerce) o Tanks To Hold Soy Oil Are Os Large Capacity With two big plants producing 1 oil from soy beans, oil storage is of great importance. To facilitate the storage of oil until it is delivered to customers in tank cars the Central Soya Co. has six large tanks. The largest of these is 30 feet in diameter, 32 feet high and holds 150,000 gallons of soy oil. The total storage capacity for oil being close to half a million gallons.

Work Doesn’t Halt At Sundown Photographed against an early evening sky this travelling steant scoop is still busy unloading limestone at the Central Sugar Co., plant.

ASSOCIATION OF FARMERS Beet Growers Unite To Further Better Production And Methods The Central Beet Growers Association, which is composed of all farmers who sign contracts to grow sugar beets for the Central Sugar Company, was organized Oct. 17, 1934. The purpose of the growers organization is to represent the beet growers of this area in everything pertaining to the growing, processing, and marketing of the sugar beet crop. Officers of the Association consist of the president, secretary, and treasurer, selected from a board of nine directors. One director is elected from each of the nine field territories in order to give local representation in each part of the beet growing area. These directors are elected at the annual meeting of the Association. ' The average membership of the Association is between fifteen and . sixteen hupdred members. Practically all of the beets for the Decatur plant are produced in eleven counties; Allen, Adams. Huntington, Wells. Jay, and Randolph Counties in Indiana; Van Wert, Allen, Putman. Mercer, and Drake Counties in Ohio. E. W. Busche. Indiana master ■ farmer, has served the beet growers as president continuously since the organiation of the Association. o Whirling Machinery Drives Away Molasses Separating sugar from molasses is one of the many important steps in the manufacture of Sparkling Crystal White Sugar. When syrup which consists of crystalized sugar and molasses is released from the sugar boiling pans it is sent to cenI trifical machines. The syrup is whirled in these mechanisisms at a speed of 1150 revolutions a minute 1 which forces the molasses through a copper mesh screen but retains the sugar crystals. The Central Sugar Co. has 15 centrifugals each capable of handling 300 lbs. of sugar at each operation. 40,000 lbs. of sugar can be run through them in little over an hour. After this separation process the sugar is washed with clear, pure water, th£n dried and is ready for consumption.

HAND LABOR GIVING WAY TO MACHINE New Equipment Makes Possible Cultivation Os 100 Acres Daily In recent years there has been a steady displacement of hand lab-, or by mechanical equipment of one kind or another in the production of the sugar beet crop. Mechanization of the agricultural side of the beet sugar industry has proceeded steadily for several years. Continued transfer of hand labor to machinery will lead to one of the greatest changes that has taken place in the industry and at the same time will remove the reproach long laid to beet growing that it requires slow and expensive hand labor. Machines are now available which will do all of the work of preparing the soil in one operation. Riding cultivators have replaced walkers and have eliminated most | of the labor of hoeing the crop. Tractors now add multiple cultivators so that a tractor operator and two riding helpers may cultivate as many as 100 acres a day. Tractors and trucks are taking over the work of lifting and transporting the crop from the field to the factory, work formerly done with walking lifters, horses and wagons. Mechanical devices are now available for both loading and unloading the beets which has long been considered one of the most back breaking jobs. Many kinds of mechanical blocking machines have been tried out in beet fields in the past few years. Some of these are proving quite practical and seem to assure as good yields as with hand blocking. Hill-dropping beet drills are now used in many beet growing areas. In other regions check-row drills are extensively used which plant the seed in hills so that they may be cultivated in both directions, thus doing away with both blocking and hoeing It was long considered quite hopeless to devise machines to replace the short-handled hoe and trained fingers in thinning the closely growing beet plants to single plants at regular intervals in the row. But now ingeniously machines have been devised to do even this work with equally satisfactory results. Pulling and topping the beets are two operations on which machinery inventors have been laboring for a long time. Hundreds of machines have been designed for this purpose mostly with little success. But today several different kinds of beet harvesters and toppers are successfully operating in tile various beet growing areas. One of these machines has successfully lifted, topped and piled almost a hundred acres of beets on a farm near Decatur this fall. It is capable of pulling, topping, and piling the beets from 4 acres each day. These mechanical improvements now promise to eventually take the objectlonal hand labor out of growing sugar beets. The entire sugar beet industry will be greatly benefitted by this emancipation. Not the least benefit will be that it will make the growing and handling of the sugar beet crop more attractive to farm workers and farmers.

DYKES STOP RIVER HAZARD Remote Possibility Os Floods Completely Gone By New Construction Floods have attracted wide attention and caused great damage in the last several years. The McMillen plants have never been threatened by losses from this source but because the St. Mary's River is adjacent to the property, officials of the organization decided as a purely precautionary measure to erect dykes which would be adequate to safeguard the plants in the event of any ontoward rises in the river. To prepare for these dykes which now entirely surround the property from the river, some 2.000 cubic yards of waste lime were removed. 100 tons of steel and 6.000 cubic yards of concrete, 300,000 feet of lumber and other construction materials in proportion were used. As many as 220 men were employed in the project of building these dykes over a period of seven months. The result is a protective wall considerably higher than the maximum flood stage the river has ever been known to reach

Urge Fall P( ow i B lj For Best Resttltfi In Next Hart J

Measuring Molasses je I L.wl n This device controls the quantity and measures the amount of molasses used in making dairy feeds. SUGAR ROOM IS SPOTLESS Cleanliness Is Watchword When Crystal White Sugar Is Sacked The proverbial pin has nothing on the neatness and the cleanliness which is maintained in the packaging room of the Central Sugar company by the "Boys in White.” Clean as a hospital ward is this room where sugar is “born” in the form recognied by the consumers. Infinite care is taken to see that not a human hand touches the crystals as they pour into the sacks, ready for marketing. A crew of men is kept working in this room 24 hours a day in eight-hour shifts just preparing the sugar for shipment. In 10 and 5pound cloth bags at 22 bags a minute, into 100-pound bags at five bags a minute, and into 25-pound containers at six per minute, the sugar flows from the chute. Then when the bags are sewed up, or in the case of one type paper container, the filling valve is tucked in, the sugar is mbved directly to the adjoining warehouses from where it will be shipped. - —o Production Os Molasses Would Make Long Train Molasses is a highly prized ingredient for livestock and dairy feeds. The Central Sugar Co. has among its by-products from the manufacture of Sparkling Crystal White sugar many tons of valuable molasses. Since Mr. McMillen has been operating the plant, more than 4,340 tons of molasses have been produced. If this quantity was sold in tank cars it would make up a train 87 cars long.

Homeward Bound And HappJ I I A few of the special busses which ar e seen l eaVi women to visit the McMillen plants. He 1 Decatur Country Club after luncheon.

Ev -Perimentation Best Returns Are tw P an ied By > a ration of Seed Beds | ' I"”' ' was thought of la so 11 H plow-d in , k ltjl i> I”' live reasons: to '■■VHt.-. to conserve , t . ■ ,l1 " '“"st work I „ bl ' ""“W "t u'tM-efnK W * It is expensive work D- I - 1 ' ,h ” S'""' " presents | MS !l " ’ P r "P“nng "'•l' <>t the the '■ittle Itlltc:. as possible will to fit the land for the -"1! w Li. h has been !y fr..,. z ,. s »“l tak- .etiAll Full plowing is - Th- j soil causes titar.y " ' ' ; !'■ id ■':"t.e---z-lttcß tils.i ’lie soil the tin- < i.-.l for 'o.'.-d first udi®;.will 'lt- benefit ot the water that »14 the late planted beets. L a T- the man who plans I ahead ' the land for future crops. ing is essential. He a? ■»f | where the beet crop vOAefi year. He also knows Spring will be a very tafNK .. and that all the work rtitiO be den- in the Fall helps ate tit- Spring rush, and . that his crops will be pisM'lhj time. A Michigan fanner' 1 "I like to do my plor.ssiO Fall when 1 have lots oftiwO then I am sure to hareSß" work my ground properly Spring. I also get better y»h■ Fall plowing has been: V be very effective in the toitniO destruction of insects ; chinch bug. cutworm. and white grub. These in-* ll J ernate through the winter the plow depth and whentwM t urned up and exposed weather will soon dieof these insects are also by the action of frost. ■ All refuse should be tWJ deeply that it is not brought ■ surface by the harrow. that is plowed under m * J has more time to decay at I the plant food elements contains, than when plo««’W in the Spring, a few «w k before planting time. ■ The need for some m«*■ rid the land of trash.» ing these valuable . C . P Th f|l has long been eviden W effective seen >n « | Purdue Plow Trash » J this is fully desenbe. 1 n W No. 217, issued by the versity Agricultura Station at LafayettJ bulletin is free