208 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



IMPORTED FOODS AND DRUGS. 



Figures indicating the extent of the import work are given in 

 the table on page 4. New products obtained from countries that 

 have not heretofore shipped to the United States and new varieties 

 of the old from new sources continue to be offered. Many products, 

 for example, African ginger and Argentine cheeses, have been arriv- 

 ing not infrequently in a decomposed, moldy, or wormy state, owing 

 to the disturbed shipping conditions, which give rise to serious 

 delays. Because of disorganization of the trade other materials con- 

 tinue to be poor in quality. For example, about 15 per cent of the 

 importations of black pepper offered for entry were found to con- 

 tain excess of dirt or shells. Among drug substitutes offered for 

 entry may be mentioned: Piptostegia pisonis, offered for jalap {Exo- 

 gonium purga)^ and found to contain 20 per cent of an active purga- 

 tive resin, differing from other jDurgative convolvulaceous resins hith- 

 erto described ; GlycyiThiza uralensis, for licorice ( Glycyrrhiza 

 glabra var. typica and glandulifera) ; Digitalis thapsi^ shipped from 

 Spain for Digitalis purpuTea; the single flowers of wild Eoman 

 camomile {Antlieinis nohiUs), for Matrieai^i cJuancnnilla; Pteris 

 sp., for sarsaparilla {Smilax spp.) ; pebbles and Amomum sp., for 

 cardamom seed {Elettaria cardamomum) ; Artemisia pontica and 

 Artemisia arhorescens^ for AhsinthiuTn ,' Aethusia cynapium leaves, 

 for Coirvm. tnaeulatinn ; Guprea bark, for Cinchona; and spurious 

 cantharides for the genuine. In cooperation with the United States 

 Public Health Service, all importations of synthetic organic arseni- 

 cals were examined, and held to the standards prescribed by the 

 Federal Trade Commission for domestic manufacturers licensed un- 

 der alien enemy patents. 



CONSERVATION OF FOODSTUFFS. 



POULTRY AND EGGS. 



A number of projects have reached such a stage that the results 

 have been published in the following Department of xA.griculture 

 Bulletins: No. 565, " How to Candle Eggs"; No. 663, "The Installa- 

 tion and Equipment of an Egg-Breaking Plant " ; No. 664. " The 

 Prevention of Breakage of Eggs in Transit when Shipped in Car 

 Lots"; No. 657, "A Wheatless Eation for the Rapid Increase of 

 Flesh on Young Chickens." 



SEA FOODS. 



A part of the work on the preservation of fish by freezing has 

 been published as Department Bulletin 635, " The Commercial Freez- 

 ing and Storage of Fish." Under the title "A Chemical Study of 

 Food Fishes," analytical data on the composition of 20 common 

 species have been recorded. Analyses of 16 varieties of fish ordi- 

 narily shipped from Florida or the Gulf of Mexico toast, and of 

 20 varieties from the coast of California have been made. Some of 

 these data will be used by the California State Council of Defense 

 in a campaign to educate the people to eat more fish and sea foods. 

 Accurate cost data on the best methods of preserving Pacific coast 

 fish were secured. The most promising results were obtained in 

 smoking sardines, kippering shad, and salting mackerel, rock cod, and 



