580 ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



a dofmito procedure recoinmended. Studies of methods of detecting 

 chloriu bleaching have also been undertaken. The invention of the 

 honiogenizer has led to the manufacture of emulsions of butter, oleo 

 oil, and cottonseed oil, with milk or skim milk, and the substitution 

 of these products for cream, both for table use and the manufacture 

 of ice cream. Examinations made of such products brought out the 

 lack of suitable methods of readily ascertaining the nature of the fact, 

 and to meet this need a method has been devised which has been tested 

 for two years in cooperation with members of the Association of 

 Ollicial Agricultural Chemists with satisfactory results. Certain dif- 

 ficulties have been overcome in the detection of charlock, a weed seed 

 separated from grain grown in the Northwest, extensively used to 

 adulterate mustard flour and prepared mustard. A method of de- 

 termining vanillin, coumarin, normal lead number and color values 

 of the lead filtrate has been finally perfected and this, together with 

 other methods, has been employed in the analyses of about 100 stand- 

 ard extracts prepared in the laboratory. A process of preparing the 

 solution preliminary to the determination of tin has been developed 

 and certain studies of methods for detecting other heavy metals 

 undertaken. 



NEW YORK LABORATORY. 



Imported foods. — As in previous years, the principal work of the 

 New York laboratory was the inspection and examination of im- 

 ported food and drug products. During the past fiscal year about 

 110,000 invoices of food and drug products were exammed, from 

 which 6,900 samples were taken and analyzed, an increase of about 

 1,700 samples over the previous fiscal year. 



The examination of figs and black olives has been continued and a 

 great improvement was shown in the quality of both of these prod- 

 ucts, especially in the figs from Turkey. The examination of green 

 coffee from Java was undertaken, and the so-called " skimmings " 

 M'ere either shipped out of the country or picked and cleaned before 

 being released. 



During the j^ear a number of imported insecticides were taken, and 

 a large number of hearings under the insecticide act of 1910 were 

 held on insecticides of domestic manufacture. 



Wharf W'Ork. — At this port more than 50 per cent of the total im- 

 portations are what are known as wharf examinations, and in the 

 past great difficulty has been experienced by this department in ob- 

 taining samples promptly of perishable or semiperishable merchan- 

 dise. In order to obviate as much as possible this difficulty, a system 

 of wharf examination has been established during the year, two men 

 being assigned especially for this work. This in a measure accounts 

 for the large number of additional samples examined during the past 

 year, and has proved so satisfactory it is hoped during the coming 

 year that the work can be further expanded, so that many examina- 

 tions of perishable food products, such as chestnuts, black olives, etc., 

 can l)e made directly on the wharf, and if examination shows the 

 quality satisfactory no official sample will be taken. This will to a 

 certain extent relieve the office force of considerable clerical work. 



Gelatin. — Among the substances regularly examined may be men- 

 tioned gelatin, which was found in many cases to contain surprisingly 



