Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1898 — Pith of Indian Corn in War. [ARTICLE]

Pith of Indian Corn in War.

The American consul general at St. Petersburg gives this account of a trial of cornstalk pith made by the Russian admiralty board on the proving grounds at Poligon, near St. Petersburg: “A cof-fer-dam six feet long, siv feet deep and three feet broad was packed with blocks of cellulose made from the pith of Indian corfi stalks. The material was supplied by the Marsden Company of Philadelphia. A six-inch solid shot was fired through the dam, striking It about twenty inches from the bottom. The shot passed clear through both the iron walls and the cellulose packing. Less than half a pound of the cellulose was carried out by the projectile. The water compartment of the dam was filled, giving % pressure of nearly five feet of water on the perforated surface. In just half an hour a'moist spot began to show on the outer surface of the dam, but it was evident that the moisture had come along the bottom of the packing and not along the path of the shot. In sous hours no water had come through the shot’s path. The experiment conclusively demonstrated that a ship provided with a coffer dam* packed as was the one used in the experiment, could be perforated five feet below the water line without the least clanger of the entrance of w r ater. This demonstration opens up an immense market for American corn-pith, and Will prove of great advantage to American agriculture.”—Chicago Times-Herald.