BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY. 469 



of fruit products 41 per cent, of oils and fats 33 per cent, of saccha- 

 rine products 28 per cent, and of spices and condiments 25 per cent. 



For nearly two months the regular activities of the laboratory were 

 diverted to the preparation of the bleached flour case which was tried 

 in Kansas City June 1, and which was decided in favor of the Gov- 

 ernment. 



Some collaborative work on methods was done, chiefly dealing with 

 the determination of citral in lemon extracts. An apparatus was 

 perfected for the convenient and rapid photography of labels, these 

 being necessary to show the " design and device " as well as the word- 

 ing. The main feature of the apparatus is the use of focusing scales 

 and the elimination of the dark room, the whole operation being so 

 simple as to permit of its being turned over to an unskilled person. 



NASHVILLE LABORATORY. 



Of the 256 interstate samples examined 21 were check analyses, all 

 reported as illegal, excluding which about 19 per cent of the samples 

 were adjudged either misbranded or adulterated. Flavoring extracts, 

 vinegars, and spices furnished the greater part of these. A vinegar 

 investigation was made in connection with the New York laboratory, 

 during which vinegar plants at Memphis, Tenn,, Cairo, 111., and 

 Paducah, Ky., were visited and a special study made of the samples 

 so obtained. 



In connection with this work 157 hearings were conducted, in the 

 majority of cases by correspondence. 



NEW ORLEANS LABORATORY. 



The work of the New Orleans laboratory has been closely confined 

 to the routine examination of interstate and import samples, owing 

 to the serious illness and absence of the chief. 



Some of the 7G unofficial samples were examined for the purchasing 

 commissary of the United States Army, and others for the United 

 States Grain Standardization Laboratory, the remainder being ana- 

 lyzed in connection with the bleached-flour investigation. For about 

 a month the entire resources of the laboratory were devoted to the 

 preparation of the bleached-flour case which was tried in New 

 Orleans February 10, 1910. 



Work on a method for the detection of corn oil in mixtures, particu- 

 larly with cotton-seed oil, was planned, pure samples of corn oil and 

 cotton-seed oil being obtained and known mixtures made. 



The inspection or bulk olives offered for entry into the port of New 

 Orleans has shown over 90 per cent of them to be wormy and unfit 

 for food. Nearly 3,000 floor inspections resulted in the examination 

 of 179 import samples, about half of which were adjudged illegal, 

 fruit products, meat and fish, and vegetables furnishing the greater 

 part of these. 



Tlie more important classes of domestic products examined were 

 coffees and cocoas, dairy products, fermented liquors, flavoring ex- 

 tracts, and fruit and saccharine products, of which over one-third were 

 found to be illegal, about 42 per cent of all of the domestic samples 

 proving to be either misbranded or adulterated. 



