54 



sweet cream is considerably greater thau iu this case. These results 

 show that separation, leaving 0.42 per cent of fat in the new milk and 

 0.39 per cent in the sweet buttermilk, was not very close in either case, 

 and that the "saving of butter fat by the sweet cream method over 

 that by the ripened cream method was in this experimeyit only the dif- 

 ference between 0.60 and 0.39=0.21 per cent on the weight of the but- 

 termilk." Assuming the loss of fat in the souring or ripening of cream 

 to be so small that it may be neglected, the only gain in the butter fat 

 saved in the new method as compared with the old in this one trial 

 was one fifth of a pound to every 100 pounds of buttermilk, or, in a 

 creamery producing daily 300 pounds of butter and 900 pounds of butter- 

 milk, a saving of 1.9 pounds of butter fat, or say 2.1 pounds of butter. 

 But of course no general conclusion can be drawn from a single trial. 



Two tubs of ripened cream and sweet cream butter were stored side 

 by side in a cellar. On opening the tubs after two months both samples 

 were found to be in prime condition, and the sweet cream butter had a 

 flavor approaching that of the ripened cream butter. They were left 

 for comparison at successive intervals, '' until one or the other sample 

 shall deteriorate sensibly.*' 



Sugar-beets, G. E. Patrick, M. S. (pp. 321-326). — This article gives 

 the results -of analyses of four varieties of sugar-beets grown at the sta- 

 tion in 1888, two grown there in 1889, and one grown in Mercer County, 

 Illinois, in 1889. As a report of these experiments is included in Bul- 

 letin No. 27 of the Division of Chemistry of this Department, a detailed 

 account of them here is deemed unnecessary. The results for 1888 were 

 encouraging, but those for 1889 were unfavorable, and further investi- 

 gations are needed to determine whether the soil and climate of Iowa 

 are adapted to the development of sugar in the beet. The station ex- 

 pects to repeat the experiment with imported seed of the best German 

 varieties. 



Sorghum, G. E. Patrick, M. S. (pp. 327-336). 



Improvement by selection. — Under this head are given the results of 

 experiments in 1889 aiming at the improvement of the sorghum plant 

 as a sugar bearer. They are in continuation of those begun in 1888 

 and reported, with description of methods, in Bulletin No. 5 of this sta- 

 tion (See Experiment Station Record, Vol. I, p. 44). The plan here 

 followed is to select seed from individual stalks found by analysis to 

 be richest iu sugar and highest in purity of juice. In 1888 out of 180 

 stalks of Early Amber sorghum analyzed, ten were selected "whose 

 juice showed an average purity of 73.4, with a mean sucrose content of 

 13.92 per cent ; and ten more with an average purity of 73.7 and of 13.63 

 per cent sucrose." The seed from these selected canes was planted in 

 1889 in several plats for the purpose of securing a large number of 

 stalks for analysis "even if selection of seed from all might not be 

 found advisable." But the season was so unfavorable that only one 

 hundred and seventy-five stalks were taken for analysis, and of these 



