388 



Journal of Agricultural Research 



Vol. XV, No. 7 



Table I. — Moisture content of air -dried healthy and diseased spinach — Continued. 

 DISEASED SPINACH— Continued. 



The examination of Table I reveals the fact that the drying of the 

 spinach (entire plant) at 50° C. proceeded beyond the air-dry state, so 

 that the moisture content of the material (which was kept in covered 

 jars) increased from 3.86 to 4.31 per cent, and on exposure to the air in 

 thin layers still further increased to 4.57 per cent. Further keeping of 

 the material in covered jars showed that its moisture content remained 

 practically constant, the small fluctuations being due undoubtedly to 

 slight changes in the moisture of the air. The observations just men- 

 tioned hold good also for the spinach leaves and roots. The figures 4.63 

 per cent, the average for the entire plant, 4.45 per cent, average for the 

 leaves, 5 per cent, average for the roots of the winter collection, and 5.97 

 and 7.12 per cent, respectively, for leaves and roots of the spring samples, 

 were taken to represent the actual moisture percentages of the normal 

 spinach materials in question, and were used in the calculation to the 

 water-free basis of the results obtained in this investigation. 



A glance at the second part of Table I shows that the samples of 

 the entire plant of diseased spinach behaved very much lil^e the healthy 

 spinach, as far as the air drying is concerned. The diseased leaves and 

 roots show a somewhat different behavior. Having been dried in the 

 oven at 50° C. they still continued to decrease in their moisture content 

 on exposure to the air in thin layers, which is e^ddently due to the fact 

 that they had not been dried long enough in the oven. If not other\vise 

 stated, the figures 4.86, 5.48, and 5.93 per cent for the whole plants, 

 leaves, and roots, respectively, of the winter collection, and 6.27 and 



