BUREAU OP CHEMISTRY. 453 



Yeast races. — The attention required by the field work has ren- 

 dered it necessary to defer, in a large measure, the critical studies on 

 yeast races, which has been under way for several years, but this work 

 IS in hand and will be carried to completion. The demands for cul- 

 tures of the yeast races already determined as having superior value 

 continues, and small cultures for use as starters are furnished to 

 manufacturers on request, and also to other laboratories. This dis- 

 tribution of cultures with instructions for their use is ma-terially aid- 

 ing in the improvement of the technic in the fermentation industries. 

 The chemical and biological work of this section is now housed in the 

 new laboratory at Stonehenge, Charlottesville, which furnishes an 

 opportunity to increase the volume of work and improve the technic 

 as well. 



denatured-alcohol investigations. 



During the past year the course of instruction in practical dis- 

 tillery work and lectures on the different phases of the manufacture 

 of denatured alcohol, begun in 1909, were repeated, especial attention 

 being given to the practical side of distillery operation. Besides the 

 general educational work, experiments were conducted to determine 

 the best methods of handling potatoes, using the American types of 

 mashing and distilling machinery. The results obtained were emi- 

 nently satisfactory, it being shown that potatoes could be satisfac- 

 torily handled in the American type of cooker and with good results. 



Experiments were made also in the preparation of cheap malt, as 

 this is one of the most expensive distillery materials that would ordi- 

 narily be purchased by the small distiller. It was found that a very 

 satisfactory and cheap malt could readily be prepared on a small 

 scale which would result in a very appreciable saving in the cost of 

 operation. Even in so small a distillery as the experimental one used 

 by the Department from $2 to $3 per day were saved by the use of 

 green malt prepared at the distillery instead of the dried distiller's 

 malt of commerce. Extensive analyses of the various products of 

 the distillery were made, and all the results of the investigation were 

 incorporated in Farmers' Bulletin 410, entitled " Potato Culls as a 

 Source of Industrial Alcohol," with a general discussion of the 

 availability of other wastes. 



FOOD AND DRUG INSPECTION. 



IVhile nearly every division of the Bureau cooperates to some 

 extent in either the food or drug work, the collection and examina- 

 tion of official samples of foods and drugs is assigned primarily to 

 the inspection force of forty men under the chief inspector, with 

 headquarters at Washington; to twenty-one branch laboratories, lo- 

 cated throughout the country, and including one at Honolulu; and 

 two inspection laboratories at Washington which check the analytical 

 work of the branch laboratories on foods and drugs, respectively, 

 and make original examinations of the samples collected in the vicin- 

 ity of Washington. The official samples on flavoring extracts, dairy 

 products, stock feeds, grains, and waters, however, are referred to tlie 

 specific laboratories charged with the analysis of such materials, 

 namely, the Food Technology Laboratory, the Dairy Laboratory, and 

 the appropriate laboratories of the Miscellaneous Division. All of 



