302 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



Of a series of samples collected impartially from all classes of shops 

 the ratio of adulterated to non-adulterated was as follows: 



Variety of spice. 



C£Lssia 



Cinnamon , 



Cloves 



Ginger 



Mace ...... 



Mustard . . 



Nutmeg . . 



Pepper: 



Black.. 



^Vhite 



Red..., 



Pimento . . , 



Pure. 



Adulter- 

 ated. 



1 

 4 

 4 



1 

 *10 



Substi- 

 tuted. 



Inferior. 



* Oil expressed in one case and turmeric added, and oil expressed in all American brands. 



Details of the peculiarities found in the above samples, with the 

 methods employed in investigating them, will he found in the special 

 bulletin of this division on food adulterations, together with chemi- 

 cal analyses of these and other samples, which cannot well be pre- 

 sented here, where it is intended merely to call the public attention 

 by a few examples to the extent of adulteration of spices at the pres- 

 ent day. 



EXPERIMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR FROM SORGHUM. 



The results of the experiments made at Ottawa last year gave en- 

 couragement to the friends of the sorghum sugar industry, and led 

 to the undertaking of a new series of experiments at Fort Scott. 



The diffusion battery consisted of fourteen cells, arranged in single 

 line, with calorisators and apparatus for use of compressed air in 

 discharging the water from each cell before dropping the exhausted 

 chips. The working of the battery was entirely satisfactory. 



Each cell had a capacity of 75 cubic feet, and would hold 1,900 

 pounds of sorghum chips, moderately packed. Each cell was con- 

 structed from the drawings obtained from the Fives-Lille Company, 

 and the detailed description may be found in Bulletin No. 8. 



The cutters used were those emi)loyed at Ottawa last year. With 

 very sharp knives, and with cane fresh and green, they did reasonably 

 good work, but after a frost had killed the leaves of the cane it was 

 found almost impossible to make the cutters work. It often required 

 half an hour to fill a single cell. When it is remembered that the 

 rest of the apparatus could easily have worked a ton of chips each 

 eight minutes, the disastrous effects of this delay can be appreciated. 



From this cause great trouble was experienced in working the bat- 

 tery. When all the cells were in use each one was often under pres- 

 sure three or four hours. The cane was unusually acid, and from 

 this there followed a large inversion of sucrose in the battery. If, 

 to avoid this, the temperature of diif usion was lowered, fermentation 

 would set in. There was nothing left for us to do but to work a 

 smaller number of cells. Often only six or seven cells were under 

 pressure, and consequently the degree of extraction was far less per- 

 fect than it would have been otherwise. 



The style of cutter used furnished a chip vv^ell suited to diffusion, 

 but I am convinced that these cutters are more costly and require 

 more power for operation than is necessary. 



