Agricultural Chemistry 



The Ascorbic Acid Content of 

 Fresh and Frozen Berries. Several 

 varieties of strawberries have been 

 analyzed for ascorbic acid and the 

 fresh berries ranged from 28 to 102 

 mg. per 100 gm. Of those varieties 

 that were tested, Narcissa, Fairfax, 

 and Catskill proved to contain the 

 largest amount. The same varieties, 

 picked on the same day of the month 

 from year to year, varied 20 to 30 

 mg. per 100 gm. in ascorbic con- 

 tent. The variation during a single 

 season was also considerable for each 

 variety and no single variety was 

 highest throughout the entire grow- 



ing season. 



The ascorbic acid content of fresh 

 red raspberries ranged from 14 to 

 35 mg. per 100 gm. Purple rasp- 

 berries ranged from 11 to 23 mg. 

 while the blackcaps were very low, 

 ranging from to 11 mg. The sea- 

 sonal variation for raspberries was 

 slight as compared with strawber- 

 ries. Fresh, low-bush blueberries 

 averaged 16 mg. ascorbic acid per 

 100 gm.; but holding these fruits in 

 a refrigerator for 16 hours resulted 

 in the loss of 70 per cent of the as- 

 corbic acid. Significant losses on a 

 24-hour period also occurred in 

 strawberries when held either at 

 room temperatures or in a refriger- 

 ator. No such loss occurred with 

 raspberries. 



All varieties of strawberries lost 

 ascorbic acid during storage at 

 below-freezing temperatures. If 

 sugar were not added, the losses 

 ranged from 13 to 98 per cent. 

 Strawberries frozen without hulling 

 retained more of their ascorbic acid 

 than did hulled berries. 



Blueberries, frozen or canned, lost 

 essentially all of their ascorbic acid 

 during a six-months' storage period. 



S. R. Shimer 



H. J. PURINTON 



The Digestibility of Timothy and 

 Alfalfa Hays. Ten samples of tim- 

 othy hay and seven of alfalfa were 

 received from various laboratories 

 in this country where they had been 

 used as the sole ration in digesti- 

 bility and energy studies with cattle. 

 On chemical analysis of these sam- 

 ples it was found that in both spe- 

 cies the protein content was closely 

 related positively with the digesti- 

 bility of both energy and dry matter. 

 If the two species were combined, 

 this relation was not significant. 

 Similarly in each species, lignin, 

 crude fiber, and cellulose were re- 

 lated negatively to digestibility. The 

 negative relation of lignin to digesti- 

 bility was closer than that of either 

 crude fiber or cellulose. 



T. G. Phillips 



Agricultural Economics 



Marketing Hatching Eggs. Over 

 60 per cent of the eggs produced in 

 New Hampshire are sold as hatching 

 eggs. Because of the importance of 

 this commodity a study was conduct- 

 ed during the past year to determine 

 certain practices in the industry and 

 to study losses in handling and ship- 

 ping. 



A preliminary report shows that 

 about 74 per cent of the hatching 

 eggs sold were used to produce broil- 

 ers and 26 per cent were used for 

 flock replacement purposes. Of the 

 broiler eggs, 75 per cent were ship- 

 ped outside of New Hampshire. The 

 rest were hatched in the State. 



A study was made of the cases 



