Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 265, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 November 1910 — VALUABLE as food [ARTICLE]

VALUABLE as food

Sunflower Seed Is Allowed to Go to Waste in Missouri. 0,1 ’* Mop ® Edible Than That of Cotton and Almost Equal to Olive's —Stalks Make Excellent Fuel. JuZTT City * Mo.—" Millions of s of sunflower seed are allowed simnL't Wastß In Missouri annually, known because tt Is not generally for that tbey 0411 be ÜBed for food forp h D ’ SS well as animals, and thereto iQfn e r , a J commerc,al value,” says lahnr ° , Red Book of the bureau of mihUr Btatistlcs - Figures made Hini Labor Commisioner J. C. A. i r Bbow that In the year 1909 senft ’° oo pounds °t the seeds were* tlen by Missouri’s 114 counlzpd *, tbat about $4,000 was real--IZ6d bytbe sale of the same. cal ** ? rlginall y a native of troplfound erl^ a 016 sunflower is now cultlvah? >Wlng more or lesß wlld in all esneS ® * ortlonß of the world, and roDP . y ‘ n sout h and central Eufrom A e ® dS , havlng been carried there sixtepnth erl<sa and P lan ted by several a fanrv » C \ ntury roverß . w ho took Its dpLi° the large flow er, both for had P ft f ,a s wlld be auty and that It BoV J° od /alue.” reads the Red subject. aPt6r ° n 0118 interesting Dreiar^| USSIa tbe aunflower seed Is Jans dn d aDd eaten Just llke Amerioften eaf P fif nUtS ‘ Tbe P° orer classes back to t),? 6 ! eeds raw > the only drawa DalaiS? Style of turnl ng them Into Jultv o? „ artlole belng the diffl * irom the'huuf , eeparaUns «“> *«"»! evprvmh^ SB ° arl the sunflower Is found lote and 6l,6 ’/f r ° Wlng ,n TaCant c ity the S rubblßh as well as in t) b lands °f the southeastern hilts of Btate and ln the foothilts of the Ozarks. Goats thrive an plant ' ea ting from the Beeds and s d ®wn to the coarse rough stalks “ d tbe wpts. The seed Is often used, mixed with other seed, as feed for poultry, and parrots especially enjoy the menu, forming a food which was a mainstay for them in tropical regiohs. “The sunflower eounties In Missourl that is, the ones which marketed the motft seed in 1909,” according to the

figures of Superintending Statistician A. T. Edmonston of the labor bureau, “are Butler, St. Charles, St. JLouiSr 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 ln that way. “An oil closely resembling olive oil, but of course Inferior in quality, 1b 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 mußt be abstained from, the seed is frely used aB 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 fulLof 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 ln sections where wood is scarce and not too great a degree of heat Is re-

qulred. 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 ln lands of little use for anything else, It would pay to produce more. The oil can be used like cotton-seed oil, ln the manufacture of oleomargarine and several other cooking preparations.” “The sunflower 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 flowera ln proportion The future will develop other uses for the sunflower.”