28 



sible some use be found for this material. This wash water is the 

 juice of the sisal leaves, with the water added in cleaning- the fiber. 

 In this dilute condition the organic content is low, the ash rather high, 

 and 70 per cent of the ash lime. From examination of the samples it 

 did not seem likely that any better use could be made of the waste 

 water than is now being made, viz, returning it to the land. The 

 same company submitted samples of sisal waste, i. e., the short fil)ers 

 from the butts of the leaves, with a request that its value for paper 

 making be determined. Crude paper has been made from this mate- 

 rial, but the determination of its value and the best method of treat- 

 ment can be made satisfactorily only in a paper mill or a laboratory 

 properly equipped for such work, which this laborator}' is not. 



Samples of granulated sugar (2), condensed milk (1), guano (8), and 

 canned pineapple (1), of no special interest except to those asking for 

 the analyses, were analyzed and reported on. 



Miscellaneous work of this kind of course calls for correspond- 

 ence. Some of this was obviated by the possibility of personal inter- 

 view with inquirers. There has also been some correspondence 

 where no samples were submitted. With the idea in mind that the 

 dissemination of knowledge is not the chief work of an experiment 

 station worker, the aim has been to keep correspondence in as subor- 

 dinate a position as was consistent with the answering of reasonable 

 inquiries. With slight encouragement this miscellaneous work and 

 correspondence would increase so as to take the chemist's whole time. 

 The chemical work at this station is free from many of the things 

 which tend to retard special work. There is no teaching, no fertilizer, 

 feeding stuff, nor food control; but miscellaneous consulting Avork 

 spread over the whole Held of chemistry is really more distracting to 

 one tr3^ing to follow some special line than teaching or routine analy- 

 ses, where the work is carried on along certain well-detined lines. 



RESEARCH WORK. 



The nature of the research work undertaken, an investigation of 

 the nature of the nitrogenous compounds in Hawaiian soils, was 

 briefl}^ explained in the last report. 



While in the temporary laboratorv two matters supposed to be 

 intimately connected with this subject were taken up chiefly because 

 there were not at that time facilities for other work. These were soil 

 acidity and denitrification. Acidity determinations, according to the 

 method proposed by Hopkins, Knox, and Pettit,« were made on all 

 the samples of soil on hand— twenty-five. Two only of these were 

 acid to litmus when moistened with water, but all gave more or less 

 acid solutions when extracted with 5 per cent salt solution. This 



a\J. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Chemistry Bui. 73, p. 114. 



