459 



induce a dark color, and Chili saltpeter is liable to cause a groen-spotted 

 appearance of the leaves when dried. 



Decrease in sugar content of beets in keeping, G. Marek {Deutsche landw. 

 Presse, 17 (1890),^. aiOj Centralblt.f.Agr. Ghem., W,p. G19).— The author 

 finds that the larp^er the percentage of sugar in the beet, the greater 

 the decrease in keeping ; and that this decrease is greater at a high 

 temperature than at a low one. The differences in the rate of decrease 

 in the sugar of two beets containing the same amount of sugar at the 

 time of harvest, he attributes to the differences in amount of non-sac- 

 charine substances present, the larger the amount of these, the greater 

 being the decrease in sugar. Attention is called to the importance of 

 this in selecting sugar-beets for raising seed. Contrary to views gen- 

 erally held, he finds that beets stored in the ordinary way suffer a greater 

 loss of sugar by keeping over winter than those which are preserved 

 with the tops on. 



Calorimetric investigations on fats and fatty acids, F. Stohmann and H. 

 Langhein {Journ.f. prak. Chem., 42 {lSdO),2)p. 3G1-382). — Recent repeti- 

 tion of former investigations by the authors shows, as before, that the 

 fats in the tissues of swine, sheep, oxen, horses, men, dogs, geese, and 

 ducks, all have the same ''heats of combustion," those for butter fat 

 being somewhat lower. It was also found that in proportion as the fats 

 became rancid their heats of combustion decreased, and that oxyacids 

 were formed in this process. These facts led the author to suggest that 

 the variations in heats of combustion may be due to the formation of 

 these oxyacids. 



Digestibility of hay, bean meal, barley meal, Swedish turnips, and rice meal, 

 F. Lehmann and J. H. Vogel (Journ.f. Latidtc, 38 {ISdO), pp. 165-197).— 

 The experiment was carried out with two sheep. The plan followed was 

 tluit of determining the digestibility of the nutrients of the hay alone 

 in one period ; that of the bean meal in another period by feeding it 

 with hay ; and then, with these two materials as a basis, adding barley 

 meal, rice meal, and Swedish turnips each in separate periods, and 

 from the increased amount of nutrients digested over that when bean 

 meal and hay were fed, calculating the co efficients of digestibility for 

 each feeding stuff. As the rice meal, Swedish turnips, and barley meal 

 are low in protein content, each was tested separately with the basal 

 ration of hay and bean meal to furnish the desire<l relations of coarse 

 to concentrated feeds, and to make the nutritive ratio about 1 : 5. The 

 rations daring the six periods were as follows : 



Period 4, meadow hay. 



Period 1, meadow hay and bean meal. 



Period 2, meadow hay, hean meal, and Swedish turnips. 



Period .'J, meadow hay, hean ineal, and rico meal. 



Period 6, meadow hay, hean meal, and harley meal. 



Period :{, moadow hay, hean me.al, barley meal, and Swolish turnips. 



