Processing plant samples with a compost mill to hasten drying and reduce bulk

Abstract

Introduction Agricultural Research Service botanists have supplied more than 17,000 plant samples for anti-tumor screening by the Cancer Chemotherapy National Service Center of the National Cancer Institute. Annual procurement has ranged up to 2,200 1to 2-lb samples for initial screening, and up to 200 large samples of biologically active plant materials for chemical fractionation to isolate, characterize, and evaluate anti-tumor constituents. During the early years of this program, field projects were concentrated largely in the United States and Mexico. More recently, procurement increasingly has been concentrated abroad. As procurement turned overseas, the expense of shipping bulky collections has become a much more significant item in project costs. While domestic shipping costs (either via surface or air freight) are based on weight of the material shipped, shipping costs from foreign ports are based on volume and can range up to $2.50 per cu ft. The latter require expensive crating, the cost of which is also based on volume. As our attention turned to overseas procurement, it became evident that equipment to chop bulky plant material would be highly desirable, because chopping would greatly reduce volume and permit more efficient packing. Such equipment should be driven by its own source of power, preferably a gasoline engine. It should be durable, compact, fairly light in weight, and highly portable for day to day use in the field. It should chop most plant materials into small pieces so that the broad range of samples to be collected would occupy a minimum of space. A compost mill2 filled these requirements completely.