246 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



whether air is rushing into the can, before inverting it to test it for a 

 leak. 



It is useless to paraffin leaky cans. If the can has been undisturbed 

 the leak is due to the growth of gas-producing bacteria or yeasts within 

 the can and paraffining is just a waste of time. It can't stop the leak 

 or the growth of the organisms. 



Dried eggs: Two samples of dried eggs were sent in for analysis. 

 Samples were taken for bacteriological analysis and the remainder sent 

 to the Experiment Station chemist for determination of moisture, fat, 

 protein and ash. 



Sample. 



Appearance 



Odor. 



Bacteria per gm 



Microscopic examination 

 Lict. broth fermt. tubes 



Moisture, per cent 



Fat, per cent 



Prote.n, per cent 



Ash, per cent 



Al. 



Orange, flaky, moist . . . 



Good eggs 



40,000,000 

 Occasional large rods. . . 



No gas 



0.82 



36.41 



46.16 



2 80 



G2. 



Yellow, powdery, moist. 

 Good eggs. 

 •66,000,000 



Large and small rods quite numerous. 

 No gas. 



5.30 

 41.4.5 

 42.63 



2.93 



Schneider (p. 195, Bacteriological Methods in Foods and Drugs Lab- 

 oratories) suggests that if the bacterial count exceeds 200,000,000 per 

 cc. (of fresh eggs) the eggs are not suitable for liuman consumption. 

 Mary Pennington (p. 15, Bui. 221, U. S. 1). A.) states that the bacterial 

 count in the liquid egg is one-third that of the dried product so the bac- 

 terial count allowable for dried eggs thus would be a])proximately 

 000,000,000 per gram and the samples above would come well within the 

 limit. 



Misses Esther Severance and Eliea East worked out their Problem 

 Cookery problem under my direction during the winter term. A very 

 creditable thesis on a study of the microorganisms causing fiat sour in 

 l^eas was worked out during this time. Organisms were found resemb- 

 ling ordinary soil spore formers wliich i)roduce acid anaerobically but 

 not aerobically. This work will be published as soon as examinations 

 can be made of a number of cans of various food products inoculated 

 with representative organisms. 



Miss Marian Lowe, another Problem Cookery student worked on the 

 bacteria in spoiled olives. B. hotulinits was not found in any cans al- 

 though many types of organisms including morphological ty])es resemb- 

 ling the above bacillus were found present. [Zae Northrnp Wyant.] 



SOIL INVESTIGATIONS. 



At the beginning of this fiscal year as noted in last year's report the 

 concrete compost pit was refilled with a mixture of peat and rock phos- 

 })hate in the same i)ro])oi-tions as emidoyed the ])revi<)us year with the 

 difference that in ]»lace of the small addition of manure emidoyed in the 

 first compost an equivalent amount of the lirst comitost was employed as 

 an inoculum, water instead of liquid manure being used to favor anaero- 

 bic conditions. 



An extraction by Die oil-pressure method Avas made of the mixture 



