AGRICUL.TUEAL. CHEMISTRY AGROTECHNY. 



11 



Investigations in regard to the composition of pear and apple seeds, P. 

 HuBER {Landic. Vers. Stat., 75 {1911), No. 5-6, pp. Ji-'^S-JiUl). — A qualitative 

 and quantitative study of pear and apple seeds, with particular reference to the 

 oil, proteins, and carbohydrates which they contain, is summarized below : 



Composition of pear and apple seeds. 



Pears (Theiler). 



Decor- 

 ticated 

 seeds. 



Hulls. 



Whole 

 seeds. 



Pears (Reinholz). 



Decor- 

 ticated 

 seeds. 



Hulls. 



Whole 

 seeds. 



Apples (Uster). 



Decor- 

 ticated 

 seeds. 



Hulls. 



Whole 

 seeds. 



Weight relation of decorti- 

 cated seeds and hulls: 



In air-dry condition 



After drying in water 



bath 



In 100 t,'ni. of dry substance: 

 Fat (without lecithin)... 

 Sugar (as invert sugar) . . 



Pentosans 



Crude fiber (nitrogen 



ash-free) 



Nitrogen 



Ash 



Phosphorus 



Carbohydrates (sugar): 



(a) Alcohol-soluble, re- 

 ducing 



A Icohol-soluble.after 



inversion 



(6) Water-soluble after 



inversion 



(c) Dissolved by boihng 

 with dilute IICl 

 acid (includes pen- 

 tosans) 



Per ct. 



58.90 



58.84 



30.46 

 4.51 

 3.07 



2.01 

 7.77 

 4.70 



Perct. 



41.10 



36.53 



7.13 

 6.08 

 11.97 



24.47 

 1.G4 

 2.50 



Per ct. 



100.00 



92.37 



24.84 

 5.13 

 6.72 



10.90 

 5.34 

 3.83 



3.36 



1. 15 



Nitrogenous sub.stances: 



(a) Protein nitrogen 



(aa) As protein (fac- 

 tor 5.55) 



(6) Basic nitrogen 



(c) Amygdalin nitrogen. , 

 {cc) As amygdalin 



(factor 32.7?) 



Phosphorus compounds: 

 (a) Phosphorus in or- 

 ganic phosphates . , 

 (6) Phosphorus in or- 

 ganic phosphatids, 

 (&6) As lecithin (fac- 

 tor 26) 



40.03 

 .30 



.14 

 1.53 



4. 5.') 



11.87 

 (8. 10) 



1.53 



8.48 

 



2.63 

 2.50 



Perct. 



68.70 



64.36 



33.14 

 5.49 

 3.37 



2.14 

 8.29 

 5.04 



1.07 



(.10) 

 3.82 

 1.C7 



Per ct. 



31.30 



28.46 



7.10 

 5.89 

 14.28 



18.48 

 1.83 

 2.31 



100.00 



92.82 



25. 15 

 5.02 

 6.72 



7.15 

 6.31 

 4.19 



(1.58) 

 2.85 

 3.04 



3.53 

 2.09 



4.96 



27.53 

 .21 



43.26 



.27 



13.99 



(9. i;o) 



1.70 



9.41 

 .09 



32.87 

 .22 



. 00 

 1.51 



.032 

 .820 



.048 

 1.230 



.04 

 1.04 



.03 

 .66 



.032 



.82 



62. .50 



58.44 



32.70 

 3.26 

 2.53 



1.47 

 8.45 

 4.77 

 1.01 



(0. 17) 



2.63 



. 63 



42.60 

 .41 

 .03 



1.01 



.38 



.05 



1.25 



37.50 

 33.53 



3.70 

 13.44 



21.98 

 1.78 

 2.11 



Perct. 



100. 00 



91.97 



24. 03 

 3.42 

 6.66 



8.96 

 6.02 

 3.79 



(1.92) 



3.30 



.40 



1.38 

 7.66 



Trace. 

 .07 



.02 

 .51 



2.87 

 .55 



4.87 

 27.05 



.67 



.04 

 .99 



The hydrocyanic acid content of some seed and stone fruits, P. Hubeb 

 (Landw. Vers. Stat., 75 {1911), No. 5-€, pp. -'/62-//S2). — The seeds of most of the 

 pears which grow in Switzerland contain practically no amygdalin (less than 

 1 mg. in 100 gm.), but traces of emulsiu-like enzyms, the activity of which is 

 100 times less than that of those present in sweet almonds. Apple seeds, on the 

 other hand, contain from 0.62 to 1.38 per cent of amygdalin, calculated to dry 

 substance, which corresponds to from 0.037 to 0.0S2 per cent of hydrocyanic acid. 

 Sweet apple seeds (Uster) contained the least of those examined, while Holz 

 contained the most. Apple-quince seed contained from 1.18 to 1.23 per cent of 

 amygdalin, pear quince seeds from 1.18 to 1.24 per cent, and the seeds of the 

 Japanese quince {Cydonia japonica) 2.29 per cent. 



Stones of the following fruits were also examined and showed amygdalin con- 

 tents as follows: Black cherries {Prunus avium) ,1.72 per cent, blue plums 

 (P. insiticia) 4.33 per cent, plum (Reineclaude) 5.03 per cent, German prunes 

 (P. domestica) 2.52 per cent, Welch prunes (P. domestica) 4.32 per cent. 



