Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 264, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1910 — VALUABLE AS FOOD [ARTICLE]

VALUABLE AS FOOD

Sunflower Seed ft Allowed to Go to Waste in Missouri. 0,1 '• Mo** Edible Then That of Cotton and Almost Equal to Olive's —Btalka Make Excellent Fuel* Jefferson City. Mo.—" Millions of Pounds of sunflower seed are allowed o go to waste In Missouri annually, simply because it is not generally Known that they can be used for food or man, as well as animals, and thereby, 6 ,„ ave a commercial value,” says e i9io Red Book of the bureau of a and statistics. Figures made Public by Labor Commisioner J. C. A. filler show that in the year 1909 out 40,000 pounds of the seeds were sent to market by Missouri’s 114 coun- , and / hat about $4,000 was realy *-be sale of the same. While originally a native of tropt ffm n^ merlca 010 Bunflower is now ruin ® r , owln 6 more or less wild in all esneoS 6 ® ortlonß of the world, and peciaiiy j n 80uth and central Eu . from A eeds havln * carried there Eixt« o A *^ erlca and P lanted by several xtee ntll century roverß( whQ tOQk its nf y .° the lar «« flower, both for had P « C f Uar Wlld beaut y and that it 8001, E od Talue ’” read * the Red subject ' Pt6r 0n m 8 Interesting Drenar^ ÜBSla the sunflower seed is ?an« h d and eaten Junt llk « Amerioften “ ( T UU< The poorer classes back to Beeds raw ’ tfte only drawa n« a. k 8 Btyle of turnln * them into culfv a ablG arUcle belng th® dl «- from tZu T ,ep "*“« ““ *»«•> Missouri the sunflower is found everywhere growing in vacant city thl ? mld rubblßb a » well as in sectinn h f la fv ß ° f 016 Boutbeastern “ ,°. f tbe Btate and in the foothills of the Ozarks. Goats thrive an . ? ant ’ ea tlng from the seeds and pete s down to the coarse rough stalks and the roots. The seed is often used, mixed with other seed, as feed for poultry, and parrotß especially enjoy the menu, forming a food which was a mainstay for them in tropical regions. " Ihe sunflower counties in Missouri flat is, the ones which marketed the mofft seed In 1909,” according to the

figures of Superintending Statistician A. T. Edmonston, of the labor bureau, “are Butler, St Charles, St. Louis, Jackson, Ste. Genevieve, Buchanan, Jasper and Mississippi, probably because they are closer to the larger cities than the other counties. It is but the question of time before all vacant lands of this state, not of great value for cultivation or pasture purposes, will be planted with sunflower seed and turned into use in that way. “An oil closely resembling olive oil, but of course inferior in quality, is made by pressing sunflower seeds. It is very palatable, easily digested, and has a high food value. In this respect it is said to be superior to our cotton-seed oil, which is put to so many uses in domestic life and in art and science.” "In portions of Europe a bouilll for Infant is made from the sunflower seed. On religious days, when meat must be abstained from, the seed is frely used as an article of diet. “In fact, sunflower oil is used for paints, taking the place of linseed oil, and when properly refined and prepared is almost as valuable.” “The flower is full of the substances which make honey, and therefore is an article of food for bees. The stalks and leaves and flower petals make excellent fodder for cattle. As a fuel, the stalks and leaves have high value in sections where wood is scarce and not too great a degree of heat is re-

quired. An acre of sunflowers will yield several cords of wood fuel without considering the value of the seed. It is estimated that 50 bushels of seed can be grown on an acre of ground. A bushel of seed yields a gallon of oil. Figuring that the oil is as valuable as the cotton-seed variety, which in 1909 averaged about 40 cents, one acre of sunflower seed will produce oil forth S2O, which means that the farmer’s share will be about sl2 and the manufacturer’s the remainder, out of which sums both would of course meet all their expenses. “As sunflowers can easily be grown in corners and in lands of little use for anything else, it would pay to produce more. The oil can be used like cotton-seed oil, in the manufacture of oleomargarine-and several other cooking preparations.” “The ~annflower is freely used for many purposes in China. The fiber of the stalk, which has great strength, is woven into fabrics, some of which when properly colored and prepared have a silky feel and appearance. Such use could also be made of the fiber here. “In tropical America the plant attains a height of 20 feet and has a flower over a foot ir diameter. In Missouri it grows sometimes to ten feet, with flowers in proportion. The future will develop other uses for the sunflower.”