300 REPORT OP THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 

 CAYENNE OR RED PEPPER. 



The condiment should consist of the ground pods of any of several 

 species of capsicum, known as chillis, or peppers. It is said to have 

 been adulterated with many substances — brick dust, red lead, and 

 coloring matters — but in Washington only rice has been detected, but 

 that quite frequently. Inferior material is no doubt often ground, 

 but the small value of the foods and the small quantity consumed 

 do not tend to increase adulteration. 



GINGER, 



Ginger is the root, or, technically, rhizome, of a plant somewhat 

 similar to our iris and flag. It is grown in various parts of the world 

 and prepared -with great care and great carelessness, being at times 

 scraped and bleached, at others simply cut in any condition, and 

 dried, so that there is a large number of varieties and qualities to 

 be found in the market. They all, iiowever, retain sufficiently the 

 marked peculiarities of the starchy fibrous root to make the detec- 

 tion of adulterants easy. The common ones are the addition of wheat 

 flour or some starch as a diluent, or the coloring with turmeric, to suit 

 a popular fancy, for ginger-bread. Mustard hulls and Cayenne are 

 also found in some States, but have not been detected here. They 

 are added to give pungency and make up for the addition of flour. 

 Their detection is easy. The sources of our supply are Jamaica and 

 the West Indies, Cochin China, Africa, and India. That from Ja- 

 maica is the best and most carefully prepared. 



CLOVES. 



The flower buds of the clove tree, carefully picked and dried, consti- 

 tute the spice known by that name. Their valuable properties are 

 due to the volatile oil which they contain, the best having as much 

 as 20,0 per cent. 



The removal of this oil is so very easy, that it is the commonest 

 method of deception to do so before grinding the spice and to then 

 dispose of it as pure. We have ready means of determining the loss 

 chemically, but the microscope gives no indication. The addition 

 of the cheaper clove stems is also practiced, as they cost but 6 cents, 

 when the buds cost 27. The microscope reveals their presence by 

 certain cells which they contain which are absent in the buds. Pim- 

 ento is sometimes substituted in part or entirely, as it has a clove- 

 like flavor, but only 4 or 5 per cent, of volatile oil. It is worth less 

 than one-fifth the price of cloves. Its chemical composition and its 

 structure — that of a berry — reveals its presence. The addition of the 

 coarser adulterants — cocoanut shells, flour, peas, and the like — have 

 not been observed, but no doubt frequently occur, as has been found 

 in Canada. 



The sources of our supply are the East Indies (Amboyna), African 

 (Zanzibar), and American, ranking in value in the order named. 

 Cloves should, if possible, be always purchased whole, as they dete- 

 riorate less readily in that form. 



CINNAMON AND CASSIA. 



These spices are the barks of several spices of the genus Cinnamo- 

 mum, the true cinnamon being a native of Ceylon, where it is largely 



