612 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



number, aud other physical constants are reported and discussed with a view 

 to the detection of adulteration in lard. 



Note on the determination of crude fiber, J. P. Street and W. P. Allen 

 (iVew Jersey titUH. Rpt, 1006, pp. 65-67). — The authors report analytical data, 

 particularly concerning the amount of pentosans, ash, and nitrogen found in 

 the residue from acid and alkali treatment by the official method for determin- 

 ing crude fiber in feeding stuffs, using mixed feed, alfalfa meal, cotton-seed 

 meal, distillers' grains, and gluten feed. The variations obtained are considered 

 too wide for a reliable quantitative method, and when it is taken into account 

 further that the residues, particularly in the case of alfalfa meal, are contami- 

 nated with lignin compounds, the necessity for further work oh the method of 

 determining crude fil)er is emiihasized. 



Buckwheat products. Proposed standards of composition, J. P. Street 

 {New Jersey i<t(ts. Rpt. 1906, pp. 67-70). — On the basis of data gathered from 

 buckwheat millers and other sources, the author classifies buckwheat products 

 and proposes standards for them. The milling products, according to his classi- 

 fication, consist of the following : 



" The flour, including the starch with as little as possible of the other layers. 



" The middlings and bran, including varying proportions of the seed coat, the 

 aleurone layer and more or less starch. 



" The hulls, comprising the outer epidermis, the woody layer, the less- 

 hardened adjacent layer and the inner epidermis. 



" The feed, comprising the hulls and bran, with more or less of the outer hull 

 removed." 



The carbohydrates of sugar-beet pulp, J. P. Street (New Jersey Stas. Rpt. 

 1906, pp. S9-6.J). — A thorough analytical study of dried beet pulfi was under- 

 taken to ascertain whether there is a relation between its composition and the 

 results of feeding experiments previously reported (E. S. R., 17, p. 394) in 

 which a somewhat higher yield of milk and butter was obtained with a ration 

 containing unsweetened pulp than with one containing hominy meal, although 

 the carbohydrates, conunonly regarded as easily assimilated, had been largely 

 removed from the beet pulp during manufacture. The results at present ob- 

 tained are regarded as preliminary. The pulp was found to have the following 

 percentage composition : Water, 9.86 ; fats, waxes, resins, and colors, 1.89 ; 

 organic acids, 5.23 ; tannin, 0.12 ; reducing sugar, as d-glucose, 1.21 ; invert 

 sugars, as sucrose, 7.10 ; pectin, 2.17 ; parapectin, 0.90 ; hemicelluloses, 16.1(5 ; 

 araban, 19.01; lignin acids, 6.99; lignin, 6.21; galactan, 8.30; cellulose, 11.32; 

 protein, 6.94 ; ash, 4.08 ; with 0.73 per cent undetermined. Six different modi- 

 fications of araban and at least 3 of galactan were identified. 

 I " The results obtained in this investigation raise doubts as to the advisability 

 of attempting a quantitative determination of the various complex carbohy- 

 drates as individual compounds. For instance, in the beet pulp we have ap- 

 parently six different modifications of araban and at least three of galactan. 

 A determination of total araban or total galactan, in this material at least, 

 would possess but relatively little significance. Furthermore, owing to the 

 complexity of many of the carbohydrates it is by no means certain that a method 

 applicable to -one class of materials woiild be equally useful with others. It 

 would seem, therefore, that with our present knowledge the more rational pro- 

 cedure is to separate the carbohydrates into groups, these groups to be based 

 on their reactions with various solvents rather than on their chemical foi'- 

 niulas." 



The latest investigations on the subject of starch {Pure Prodnets, 3 {1907), 

 No. 7, /*/). 30'i-30f^). — A sunnnary and discussion of recent theories on the 

 chemical structure of starch. 



