964 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



ric acid is formed by a combination of gas with water. In order to prevent this 

 it is recommended that such materials be protected with a suitable covering. 



Moist foodstuffs, including fruit, vegetables, and fresh meats, are badly- 

 affected or even rendered uneatable after exposure to sulphur dioxid. Wheat 

 in bags is also injured, but not barley or corn. The gas for use in fumigation 

 may be generated from liquefied gas or by burning sulphur. 



The abuse of poisons in agriculture, A. Andouard {Ann. 8oc. Acad. Nantes, 

 8. sen, 7 {1906), pi). 169-177). — A complaint is made of the excessive use of 

 arsenical, mercurial, and other dangerous poisons. It is argued that the pres- 

 ence of these poisons is a source of danger and that their continual use may 

 lead to injurious effects. The suggestion is made that phenols, oils, soaps, nico- 

 tine, and other remedies are efBcient in the destruction of insects and do not 

 contain the element of danger. 



FOODS— HUMAN NUTRITION. 



Wheat and flour investigations, R. W. Thatcher {Washington Sta. Bui. 

 S.'t, PI). .'/.S, Jiijs. .i). — The investigation reported includes the results of analyses 

 of 86 samples of Washington wheats (crop of 1905) and milling and baking 

 tests. The samples represented 19 varieties and 24 different localities. 



The author summarizes the results as follows: 



"The analyses of the wheats themselves show that within any given variety 

 of wheat there are wide variations in chemical composition, due, apparently, 

 to the differences in climatic conditions existing in the different localities 

 where the wheat was grown; and that, while there are very considerable 

 differences in favor of one variety or another in average con") position, within 

 the same variety there appear individual samples of higher or lower value 

 than the average of any of the other varieties. 



" Milling tests of each of the samples received show that the percentage 

 yield of bran, shorts, and ' straight ' flour did not vary greatly, either in the 

 case of different samples of the same variety of wheat, or in the average yields 

 of the different varieties. 



"Analyses to show the distribution of the protein of the wheat among the 

 mill-products obtained from it, seem to prove that among the bread wheats 

 the proiiortion of the total pi-otein which goes into the flour does not vary 

 greatly ; but that the food, or feeding, value of the several products is con- 

 trolled almost wholly by the composition of the grain from wliich they are 

 milled. 



" Determinations of the amount of wet and- dry gluten yielded by the flour 

 from each of the samples show that the percentage of dry gluten obtained is 

 generally slightly lower than the percentage of protein contained in the flour, 

 the greatest differences being obtained in samples of the lowest in'otein content. 



" Determinations of the percentage of gliadin, and sponge halving tests of 

 28 representative samples of these flours indicate that the ' baker's sponge 

 test' is of little or no value in judging of the quality of the gluten of a flour; 

 that the ' gliadin number ' of Washington wheats is lower than that of east- 

 ern grown wheats, but that poor quality of gluten in our wheats is more apt 

 to be due to a deficiency in glutenin than in gliadin ; and that the flours pro- 

 ducing the largest and best loaves of bread came from wheats which were 

 grown in the driest sections of the State where the effects of the hot winds 

 during harvest were felt most severely, but that this difference in baking 

 qualities was not wholly due to differences in the percentages of protein 

 in the grain, or of gluten wliich the flour would yield. 



