CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF SOILS AND FIGS. 285 
As heretofore pointed out in Bulletin 101, the fig rates first in flesh-forming 
materials among our fruits; apricots and plums second; prunes and oranges third. 
It is interesting to reproduce, at this point, a summary of the food constituents 
of some of our dried fruits as coupared with the dried fig. In addition, the 
analysis of a sample of California raisin is here reported. 
Percentage composition of dried fruits. 
Dried edible por ehton, | ; : 
Contents | Raisins | weit henge 1 fppres 
: French .... |(Muscat).| ,6s¥ Bite |Gmported| (Euro- 
prunes. Apricots. | Adriatic). Smyrna ).a pean). 
Per cent. | Per cent. | Per cent. | Per cent. Per cent. | Per cent. 
33. 
VS ee 25. 20 32. 44 | 18. 95 25. 00 21.06 
£51.22. ee eee 1.50 1,38 1.55 2. 24 1.80 1.40 
Albuminoids (crude pro- 
itn ee 2.80 2. 90 4.00 4.50 4.06 1.70 
OMG SELE TRIG STP 5 oO RRR) a oN Re ed (ee ee oe eee eee St AE 8.30 
een ree extract .-.---- 29.7 32.18 2.30 10.11 | 10.18 21.60 
ier eI ere fee aaa ad woe ses |e oe sco Sacco. Sb oe nein acces ences scene |besaccu sacs |snoe=saeeeee 
Beat ses.) 5- epee 40.53 29.59 | 72.50 57.60 | 62.50 32. 00 
Free acid, calculated as 
sulphuric (SOs) tees s--e4- .40 eb) 70 | 45 40 2.00: 
Lo ea Sa ee 100.00 | 100.00 | 100. 00 100.00 100. 00 100.00 
a Analyzed at this station. 
As stated in previous fruit bulletins, these results are too meager to serve as the 
basis for a general discussion of the relative food values of the fruits examined. 
However, we note some wide differences among the nutrients. For instance, the 
sugars and albuminoids, or crude protein, show considerable variation: the apri- 
cots, like the apples, yielding less than one-half as much sugar as the Muscat 
raisin, which contains nearly twice as much sugar as the prunes, and one and one- 
fourth times as much of that substance as the fig. European analyses of raisins 
show figures for sugar contents which differ but little from those we give here. 
Both raisins and figs, with respectively 4 and 4.5 per cent albuminoids (flesh- 
forming materials), stand from one and one-half to two times above the other 
fruits in this respect. The fig yields nearly twice as much ash as the other fruits 
here reported. 
ASH COMPOSITION AND NITROGEN CONTENTS, 
The fig stands second in amount of mineral matter withdrawn from the soil for 
equal weights of the various fruits. From European data we place grapes first in 
this respect, and from our own findings the orange third, and the prune, apricot, 
and plum fourth. We report an ash analysis of the White Adriatic fig from Kern 
County, and as the figures there represent a considerable district we can take them 
as a fair guide, the analysis of the ashes of other fruits from different localities in 
California having shown that the variations will not be great enough to vitiate 
the conclusions. But few European analyses of fig ashes are at hand, and their 
great discrepancies necessitate an analysis by us of the ash of an imported fig, 
The results obtained are given in the accompanying tables, and it will be noted 
that the figures agree, within the limits to be expected, with those we report for 
our figs. 
