MICHIGAN MANUFACTURERS OF FRUIT GOODS. 489 



or prohibiting the passage from one state to another, of impure food, received much 

 attention. It has been reintroduced in congress and will be pushed this year. The 

 Northwestern Cider Makers' convention which recently met at Springfield, 111., recom- 

 mended that each association appoint one member of a national committee to look after 

 this matter and to aid in securing state legislation as well, and appointed Mr. C. C. 

 Bell of Booneville, Mo., as their representative. I recommend that you name some 

 member of our association to act as our representative in this national committee. 



In our programme we take up several subjects not hitherto touched upon at our meet- 

 ings. I recommend to your especial attention, the question of a proper display at 

 Chicago at the Columbian Exposition. When the gentlemen who are.to speak to us on 

 this subject have been heard from, you will be in better position to take action in 

 reference to this matter. I trust, however, you will not fail to take action which will 

 insure our having a proper exhibit there. Never before has there been such an interest 

 in this country in the acquirement of foreign trade. It is probably safe to say that 

 never again will the manufacturers of fruit goods of Michigan have so convenient an 

 opportunity to display their products to the foreign buyer, and this opportunity 

 should be improved to the fullest extent. 



Finally, gentlemen, I recommend that our time of meeting be again made the third 

 Tuesday and Wednesday of January instead of the second, to avoid conflict of date 

 with other associations. Some of our members have been much discommoded this year. 

 Next year, you will all agree, I think, that our meeting must be in Lansing on account of 

 the session of the legislature. I recommend that an invitation be sent, by some mem- 

 ber who will attend the Toledo convention, to the Ohio association to meet with us 

 next year, we on our part agreeing to meet at Toledo year after next with the Ohio and 

 Indiana men. If we can have the aid of the gentlemen who have built up so strong an 

 association in Ohio, it can only help give an impetus to our own association. I am 

 certain that two joint meetings of this character will be most profitable. 



The year just passed has not proven so satisfactory to some of us as other recent 

 years, yet I trust it has not been without some profit to all of you. Out of each one's 

 experience there should be something of information for the rest. With the hope that 

 you will fully occupy the time, gentlemen of the association, the meeting is placed in 

 your hands. 



The topic, '"Chemistry of Vinegar Making," was then taken up, and the 

 following interesting and instructive paper was read by Prof. W. L. Ross- 

 man of the Michigan Agricultural college: 



THE CHEMISTRY OF VINEGAR MAKING. 



Acetic acid, the active principle of vinegar, was known at a very remote period. The 

 aqueous solution containing from three to ten per cent, of acetic acid, known as vine- 

 gar, also contains small quanties of alcohol, ethereal oils, sugar, dextrine, coloring mat- 

 ter, and soluble salts. The nature of the other materials which impart the character- 

 istic smell and taste, depends upon the kind of material from which the vinegar has 

 been made. 



The materials used to furnish vinegar by normal acetic fermentation are: first, wine; 

 second, spirits; third, malt wort or beer; fourth, fermented juices other than wine; and 

 fifth, sugar beets. The wines used are such as are of inferior quality and considered 

 unfit for drinking as wine. The spirits used are chiefly the potato brandy of Germany 

 and whisky in this country. These, when used for vinegar making, are so diluted with 

 water and vinegar already formed that the alcohol content is reduced to from three to 

 ten per cent. The malt wort used is exactly like that prepared for grain spirit manu- 

 facture. Cider from good, sweet, ripe apples serves for the manufacture of vinegar in 

 this country. Perry vinegar, from pears, is made to some extent in England. Sugar 

 beets are used t© some extent in France. 



The production of acetic acid or vinegar from all the sources mentioned is due to a 

 process known as fermentation. The word fermentation is derived from fervere, which 

 means to boil, and evidently owes its origin to the appearance presented by saccharine 

 liquids when left to themselves. We observe a more or less disengagement of gas, 

 which causes the liquid to effervesce or boil. The sugar disappears and the product 

 becomes spirituous. This is alcoholic fermentation and was the first known. 



The changes, from a purely chemical point of view, which take place in a barrel of 

 sweet cider when left exposed to the air at a temperature of from 70° to 90° Fahrenheit, 

 are very simple. First, the sugar molecule splits up into alcohol and carbonic acid gas. 

 The change is represented by the following formula: C„ H^ 0« (fruit sugar) equals 2 Cj 



62 



