INDUSTRIES DEPENDING ON ANIMAL PRODUCTS 184^ 



their nutritive value depends on their composition, and they must therefore 

 be chosen with care. 



It was with the object of shewing farmers the composition and value 

 of the different offals and how to recognise fraud that this investigation 

 was made. 



After rehearsing the structure of the grain of wheat and the processes 

 it undergoes when ground, the classification of the various products are 

 shewn in Table I. 



All the offal grains were examined, and their composition is shewn 

 in Table II. The numbers given are the mean of many analyses. 



Adulterations. — Many commercial waste products of the same appear- 

 ance as these offal wheats can be mixed with them. Brown flours and 

 pollards are seldom adulterated ; occasionally a cheaper flour such as 

 barley, rye, maize or rice is added, but it scarcely affects nutritive value. 

 The same cannot be said of such heavy substances as plaster and earth, 

 or, what is more frequently found, mill sweepings. With real brans fraud 

 is easier. At the district laboratory of Auxene, two specimens were analysed 

 of which one contained about 15 per cent of sawdust and the others 12 cent 

 per cent of "rice balls". The composition of these and of other pro- 

 ducts which lend themselves to adulteration are given in the tables. 



In addition to the above, stress is laid on the changes which fermen- 

 tation causes in bran even when pure. This shews itself by an increase 

 in acidity. Ordinary bran has an acidity equivalent to about 0.15 gms. 

 of sulphuric acid per cent. When the acidity is more than twice this, the 

 bran should be thrown awa3^ 



Conclusion. — Offal wheats may be divided into two chief categories 

 according to their nutritive value : the pollards, coarse and fine, (midd- 

 lings and sharps) and real brans. These last fetch a price relatively too 

 high, and it would be well if farmers knew to keep them for special cases, 

 and if they sought more concentrated forms of food in the cheaper oilcakes 

 of commerce. In any case, they cannot be too strough' urged, when 

 buying bran, to assure themselves that it is unadulterated and in a good 

 state of preservation. 



1323 - Investigations on the Peat Beds and the Peat Industry in Canada. — anrep a., 



Canada Department of Mints, Mines Branch Bulletin, No. 11, pp. i-i8.s, Ottawa, 1915. 



The present paper is a report on the investigations on peat beds and 

 the peat industry carried out in Eastern Canada by the Department of 

 Mines during the years 1913-1914. Thirty one peat beds are mentioned 

 and photograj)hs are given of 62 species of ]:)lants which constitute the 

 basis of beds in Eastern Canada. The utilization of ]^eat in the United 

 States, in Switzerland, in Norway, in Denmark and in Russia is discussed, 

 and the plant used is described in an appendix. 



