512 SXPEEiMENT STATION RECORD. 



a modified condenser of the Hopkins type, an improved Knorr flask, and an 

 extraction tube. There are no ground joints, the one seal being made with 

 mercury. No support is necessary for the flask. The apparatus is especially 

 applicable to extracting alkaloids and fat. 



Sorghum sirup manufacture, A. H. Bryan ( U. 8. Dcpt. Agr., Farmers' Bui. 

 Jf77, pp. JfO, figs. 23). — This bulletin, which supersedes Farmers' Bulletin 135 

 (E. S. R., 13, p. 595), treats of the following topics: History, varieties, culture, 

 and harvesting of soi'ghum; manufacture of sorghum sirup, extraction, clarifi- 

 cation, and evaporation or concentration of the juice, use of kettles, pans 

 and patent evaporators, and steam evaporators; methods of determining the 

 finishing point; treatment of the finished sirup; canning sirup; prevention of 

 crystallization ; comments by representative sirup makers ; economic considera- 

 tions, location and arrangement of a sirup plant ; making sirup on shares ; 

 analyses of sorghum varieties; and statistics of sorghum sirup production. 



The bulletin is illustrated with cuts of the machinery and apparatus required 

 for sorghum sirup making. 



The " graisse " sickness of ciders, B. Kayser (Compt. Rend. Acad. 8ci. 

 [Paris], 152 {1911), No. 21, pp. U22-H24; ahs. in Jour. Soc. Chem. Indus., SO 

 (1911), No. 12, pp. 762, 763). — From ciders affected with the graisse sickness the 

 author isolated 4 organisms, which he terms A, B, C, and D, their size being as 

 follows: A, 3 to 16 by 1.5 to 2 microns; B, 1.5 to 4.5 by 0.75 to 1 microns; C, 1.5 

 by 0.75 microns ; D, 1.5 to 4 by 1 to 1.5 microns. 



" The organisms generally form chains, which are straight in the case of A, 

 curved in the case of B and D, while those formed by C ai'e convoluted. They 

 are somewhat anaerobic and have a temperature optimum of about 30° C. 

 They grow readily in solutions of sugar in bean decoction, yeast water, extract 

 of malt combs, or peptonized meat extract. The organism A has no visible 

 effect on milk but produces a pleasant odor of apple essence; B coagulates milk 

 partially; C renders it ropy and coagulates it, and D renders it ropy but does 

 not coagulate it. Of the sugars, sucrose, dextrose, and levulose, the organism 

 B exhibits a preference for levulose while C prefers dextrose. A concentration 

 of 15 to 20 per cent of sucrose does not prevent the production of ropiness, and 

 all the organisms can produce ropiness in the presence of 4 to 5 per cent of 

 alcohol. Addition of dead yeast, humus, or tannin (even to the extent of 0.1 

 per cent) to the culture medium, produces very vigorous and ropy growths, 

 especially in the case of the organisms A and C. The production of ropiness 

 in ciders depends not merely on the presence of one of these organisms but is 

 influenced by other factors as well ; ciders which have been completely fer- 

 mented do not become ropy." 



Viticulture and cellar operations in wine manufacture. — Cellar operations, 

 A. F. VON Babo and E. Mach {Handbiich des Weinbaues and dcr KeUcrwirt- 

 sehaft. 2. Band, Kellerwirtschaft. Berlin, 1910, vol. 2, //. ed., pp. XX+lt02, 

 figs. 322). — This is volume 2 of this work, which has been revised by J. Wort- 

 mann, and deals with the chemistry of the grape and wine, wine cellars, 

 storage vats, general cellar operations, the preparation of white, red, and 

 bottled wines, etc., the selling and shipping of wines and musts, the chemical 

 analysis of wines, diseases of wine, the utilization of the by-products, and the 

 various existing laws in regard to the manufacture and sale of wines. 



The use of sugar beets for the production of alcohol, K. Antal {Ztschr. 

 Spirit usindus., SJf (1911), Nos. 19, pp. 239, 240; 20, pp. 252, 253; abs. in Cheni. 

 Ztg., 35 (1911), No. 91, Repert., p. 386).— A detailed statement in regard to the 

 methods employed and similar details as to pi'oducing alcohol. The alcohol 

 production for 4 months was 89.1 per cent of the theoretical yield. 



