CONVENTION OF OFFICIAL A.GBICULTURAL CHEMISTS. 427 



for the detection of Pood adulterations, and McGill, W. I>. Bigelow, 

 L. M. Tolman, R. E. Doolittle and others discussed with decided want 

 of agreement the advisability of placing such tests in the hands of 

 dealer- and others not trained in chemistry. 



Colors. W. I). Bigelow stated thai the associate referee on colors, 

 \Y.(i. Berry, had completed an exhaustive compilation of literature 

 on the subject of coloring matter, which is now being printed. 



Saccharira j>r<></m-fs. The report on saccharine products, by J. I [ort 

 vet, presented the results of comparative analyses of maple sugar and 

 sirup by a Dumber of analysts. The methods employed were pub- 

 lished in Circular 'J.'-) of the Bureau of Chemistry and were adopted as 

 provisional. 



( '. II. Jones called attention to the work which has been carried <>n 

 at the Vermont Station, stating that a satisfactory method for the 

 detection of cane sugar in maple products had been «le\ r ised. See 

 E. S. K.. 17. p. 219.) 



Fruit products. — In the report of E. M. Bailey it was stated that 

 the work of the associate referee on fruit products had been confined 

 to an effort to devise a practical method for the determination of water 

 in dried fruits. Comparative results in drying prunes, peaches, apri- 

 cots, and apples with and without sand were reported. Drying with 

 sand gave -lightly higher and presumably more accurate results. 

 Drying for 30 hours at 1<><> C. and cooling in a desiccator for at 

 least one hour before weighing was recommended. 



The determination of moisture was further discussed by William 

 Frear, who called attention to Benedict's method of drying at normal 

 temperatures, and by II. \V. Wiley, who spoke of the method recently 

 described by L. Maquenne (see p. -W7) and of drying in a partial 

 vacuum as carried out in the Bureau of Chemistry. The referee on 

 food adulteration was requested to assign the methods of determining 

 moisture mentioned for testing during the coming year. 



Distilled liquors. — The report on this subject, presented l>y ( . A. 

 Crampton, dealt mainly with the determination of fusel oil. The 

 method of A. Trillat and that of Riche and Hardy for the detection of 

 methyl alcohol in distilled liquors, and the method of Leach and 

 Lythgoe for the estimation of ethyl and methyl alcohol in mixtures, 

 were recommended for adoption as provisional methods, which was 

 done. A method of determining aldehydes was offered as a substitute 

 for the one given on page 97 of Bulletin 65 of the Bureau of Chemistrj , 



and methods of determining ethereal salts and furfurol were offered 



as substitutes for those given on page 98 of the same bulletin. These 

 methods were adopted a- provisional, as wasalso Allen and Marquard's 

 method for fusel oil. 



II. E. Sawyer described some methods employed by him in examin 

 ing distilled Liquors, and stated that aniline dyestuffs \\ . ■ i< - coming into 



