296 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



Tliis is nearly as serious a condition as was found in Canada, but 

 again in 1885 l)r. Wood reports: 



Articles. 



Mustard 



Cloves .• . . 



Cassia and cinnamon 



Ginger 



Allspice 



Ground mace 



Black pepper 



Wliite pepper 



Genuine. 



Adulter- 

 ated. 



Com- 

 pounds. 



Adulter- 

 ated. 



Per cent. 

 01.8 

 83.5 



ao.o 



23.6 



;?i.i 



50.0 

 78.6 

 65.0 



■wliich is little or no improvement. He found the common adulter- 

 ants of mustard to be flour, turmeric, and sometimes a little cayenne. 

 Cloves suffered from extraction of the volatile oil and the addition of 

 clove stems, allspice, burnt shells, and other cheap substances. Cas- 

 sia contained ground shells and crackers. Ginger was in many cases 

 colored, and in some instances wheat and corn flour and clove stems 

 were present; allspice is too cheap to bo often adulterated, but in 

 eight samples mustard hulls, ground shells, clove stems, and cracker 

 dust were found. In mace, flour and corn-meal were diluents, and for 

 the peppers, crackers, mustard hulls, pepper dirt, powdered charcoal, 

 rice, corn, and buckwheat. 



Under the New York law of 1881 Prof. S. A. Lattimore investigated 

 a number of spices and spice mixtures submitted to him. 



The result of his examination of the commercial ground spices are 

 commented on, after giving the proportions which were found adul- 

 terated, in these words: 



The spices present a,n inviting field for the exercise of fraudulent arts. They are 

 almost universally sold in the form of fine powder and in opaque packages, which 

 do not admit of easy examination on the part of the purchaser. Consequently any 

 cheap substance wliich may be easily pulverized to a similar degree of fineness, and 

 which possesses httle distinctive taste or color of its own, answers the purpose ; so 

 that the list of adulterants for this class of articles is naturally very large. The 

 adulterations found in the samples now under consideration may be classed into 

 four groups : first, integuments of grains or seeds, such as bran of wheat and 

 buckwheat, hulls of mustard seed, flax seed, &c. ; second, farinaceous substances 

 of low price, such as are damaged by the accidents of transportation or long storage, 

 such as middlings of various kinds, corn-meal and stale ship-bread : third, legu- 

 m.inous seeds, as jieas and beans, which contribute largely to the profit of the spice 

 mixer; fourth, various articles, chosen with reference to their suitableness for 

 bringing up the mixture as nearly as possible to the required standard of color of 

 the genuine article. Various shades, from light colors to dark browns, may be ob- 

 tamed by the skillful roasting of farinaceous and leguminous substances. A little 

 turmeric goes a great way in imparting the rich yellow hue of real mustard to a pale 

 counterfeit of wheat flour and terra alba, or the defective paleness of artificial black 

 pepper is brought up to the desired tone by the judicious sifting in of a httle finely 

 pulverized charcoal. Enough has been already given to show that the field for 

 sophistications of tliis sort is a wide one, and offers large scope for the development 

 of inventive genius, so that each manufacturer of articles of this class would be 

 likely to possess his own trade secrets. It wiU be observed that the adulterating 

 materials just mentioned all belong to the class claimed to be harmless. In no in- 

 stance has any poisonous substance been discovered. The proportion of foreign and 

 genuine substances in tJie spices varies between wide limits, in some instances the 

 former being slight ; in others, the latter seemingly present in just sufficient qiian- 

 tity to impart faintly the requisite taste or odor. Even tliis small proportion of the 

 professed article is occasionally fvirther diminished by the substitution of other sub- 

 stances ; as, for example, in imparting to corn meal finely ground a pungency sug- 

 gested by real ginger by the addition of a httle salt and red pepper. 



It is probably not so widely known as it should be that the "demand for the ma- 



