192 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



far as possible the prices paid by the consumer for finished products 

 by the elimination of losses and waste. 



Special emphasis has been given by those in charge of the regu- 

 latory work in the past year to the control of drug products and in 

 safeguarding the public from food subject to spoilage or pollution. 

 Such foods if contaminated or improperly handled are liable to pro- 

 duce infection or poisoning and thus constitute a serious menace to 

 health. With the object, therefore, of making the food and drugs 

 act a hygienic measure as well as a preventer of economic fraud, the 

 bureau has given especial attention to the interstate traffic in unclean 

 milk, spoiled eggs, polluted oysters, and spoiled canned goods. 



The interruption of imports has made it particularly important to 

 the health of the people to curb the traffic in spurious synthetic drugs, 

 because exceptionally high prices have offered unusual temptation 

 to the sophisticator. Rigid enforcement of the Sherley amendment 

 aimed at the false and fraudulent labeling of medicines was con- 

 tinued as a measure necessary for health protection. 



As is pointed out in the report, much of the success in enforcing 

 the food and drugs act has been due to the effective cooperation 

 developed between State food, drug, and dairy officials and the Fed- 

 eral regulatory force. 



RESEARCH. 



Plant chemistry. — Investigation of the nitrogenous compounds 

 of kafir, Andropogon sorghum, has shown that fully one-half of 

 them are soluble in hot 70 per cent alcohol. The soluble nitrogen 

 consists in great part of a new alcohol-soluble protein, the percentage 

 composition of which has been determined. It contains the amino 

 acids lysin and tryptophan, both indispensable to the nutrition of 

 animals. These are not found in zein, the corresponding protein 

 of maize. Now that this is known a rational attempt can be made 

 to learn how kafir may be fed to make it no less valuable than maize. 



The peanut, Arachis hypogaea, and two globulins which have been 

 separated from it have been found to contain an abundance of 

 di-amino nitrogen. This form of nitrogen is indispensable to the 

 nutrition of animals and is contained in inadequate amounts in 

 the common cereals from which most feeds are derived. Peanut press 

 cake should, therefore, prove to be an easily accessible material to 

 make such cereal feeds more efficient In cooperation with the Bu- 

 reau of Animal Industry it is planned to make a practical test of this 

 matter. 



From the jack bean, Canavdlia ensiformis, two globulins and an 

 albumen have been separated and studied. 



The nitrogen distribution in cotton and tomato seed, cowpeas, corn, 

 corn germ, and wheat has been determined. 



Many analyses of forage plants of the arid and semiarid West were 

 made for the Bureau of Plant Industry. 



New saponins have been isolated from Yucca angustifolia, Yucca 

 radiosa, Yucca filamentosa, and Agave lecheguilla. A comparison 

 of the surface tension effect of a series of saponins with their haemo- 

 lytic power failed to disclose any interrelation of the two properties 

 of the saponins. 



The glucoside in the leaves of upland cotton has been found to be 

 quercimeritrin. The results of this work are in preparation for 



