to process them, but that the starch is of such high quality that it can be used in cotton mills, adhesive factories, commercial laundries, and indirectly in the manufacture of postage stamps. Sweet-potato starch is not new, for Japan has been making it for many years, but as little effort is made to remove the natural yellow color, the sale of Japanese starch is restricted. In this country, as a result of continued research, chemists succeeded in solving the color problem and the starch that is being made in a new factory at Laurel, Miss., not only has a beautiful white color but is of an unusually high quality. This factory, built from an allotment of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, has a capacity of 2oo,ooo bushels of sweet potatoes and 2,000,000 pounds of starch per IOO day season. It has been deeded to the Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station. The cost of starch manufacturing is such that it is reasonable to assume that Southern industry as well as Southern agriculture will be greatly benefited. The United States consumes more than I,OOO,OOO,OOO pounds of starch a year. There is imported approximately 250,000,000 pounds a year which represents the productive capacity of some 300,000 acres. Sweet-potato starch can supplement the present cereal starch and similar factories to the one at Laurel, Miss., can be built at a reasonable cost. It will require 15o factories of similar size to make as much starch as is now imported.
R. H. O.