630 



date of picking, proportion of pits and flesli in fruit, percentages of oil 

 in pits and flesh, and the quality of the oil. The tests made indicated 

 that the method of "iodine absorption" for determining the purity of 

 olive oils is not altogether satisfactory. A simple method for detecting 

 the presence of cotton-seed oil, devised by Professor E. Bechi, director 

 of the experiment station at Florence, Italy, is described. Among the 

 varieties of olives examined by the author the Manzanillo seems to 

 be the best for pickling and the Nevadillo for oil. 



Colorado Station, Bulletin No. 14, January, 1891 (pp. 15). 



Sugar-beets, D. O'Brine, D. Sc. — An account of a visit to the 

 beet-sugar factory at Grand Island, Nebraska, and tabulated results of 

 analyses by the station of sugar-beets grown in Colorado. The sugar- 

 beets raised by the station in 1890 averaged over 15 per cent of sugar, 

 and the yield per acre was over 26 tons. 



Connecticut State Station, Bulletin No. 106, March, 1891 (pp. 14). 



The Babcock method of determining fat in milk and cream 

 (pp. 2-9). — Details are given of this method, which was described in 

 Bulletin No. 24 of the Wisconsiu Station (See Experiment Station 

 Eecord, Vol. II, p. 250). Eegarding the accuracy of the method the 

 following observations were made at the Connecticut Station : 



In 17 cases the standard method used in chemical laboratories gave a lower result 

 than the Babcock method ; in 15 cases, a higher result. In 6 cases the difference 

 exceeded 0.10 per cent and in 18 cases it was 0.05 or less. The average difference 

 between the quantity of fat shown by this method and that shown by the standard 

 method was less than 0.01 per cent in 32 comparative tests ; that is, on the aver- 

 age, where 100 pounds of butter fat were actually present, the Babcock test showed 

 99.99 pounds. The greatest difference in any single case was 0.18 per cent or about 

 3 ounces of fat in 100 pounds. In the majority of cases the discrepancy was four 

 fifths of an ounce or less in 100 pounds of fat. 



Since October, 1890, fat determinations have been made in 206 samples 

 of milk brought to creameries by individual patrons. " The milk from 

 the individual dairies was of varied quality. The milk of one herd con- 

 tained 5.25 per cent of fat, that of another 3.28 per cent of fiit, and 

 while the percentage varied somewhat from day to day, yet the milk of 

 certain herds was uniformly rich in fat while that of other herds was as 

 uniformly poor." Assuming that both patrons furnished the same 

 quantity of milk (1,500 pounds per week), that the price paid was $1.10 

 per hundred pounds, and crediting nothing to the skim-milk, as the 

 quantity would be the same in both cases — 



A, the patron who produces the richer milk, who has the better cows or who feeds 

 more rationally, gets 22 cents a pound for butter fat ; and B, the patron whose milk 

 is the poorer, whose herd is poor or feeding injudicious, gets 31.4 cents a pound. 

 This is a premium of 10 cents per pound of fat on thin milk, or poor stock and feed- 

 ing, or on judicious watering of the milk. » » » 



