42< I 



r.iu.ETiN [67 



Before beginning a detailed discussion, attention should be 

 called to a few general conditions obtaining in the manufacture 

 and analysis of the sirups, which doubtless to some extent 

 affected the chemical data. 



1. All samples were secured from the same sugar orchard. 



2. They were made during three successive sugar seasons. 



3. The size of the sample and the manner of its evapora- 

 tion made it difficult closely to control the end boiling point and. 

 consequently, large individual and yearly variations were observed 

 in the concentration of the sirups, as is shown below. 



TABLE 15. MOISTUKE CONTENTS OF SIBUP SAMPLES 



The average obtained in 1909 more nearly approaches the 

 eleven-pound per gallon standard, 1 which calls for a moisture 

 content of from 34 to 35%, than do those secured in the two fol- 

 lowing years. The 1910 samples were nearly all light weight 

 goods, with an extreme variation of 15.14$ in moisture. The 

 average for 191 1 indicates that most of the samples were con- 

 siderably more concentrated than the eleven-pound standard 1 re- 

 quires. A thermometer was used to determine the density during 

 manufacture, but, unfortunately, due allowance was not made for 

 the boiling points of different grades of sirup. These figures will 

 be referred to later during the discussion of the ash data (pages 

 464 and 465). 



No particular care was taken to remove the "niter" in the 

 laboratory previous to the analysis of the 1909 samples, Nos. r-26. 

 It was thoroughly removed from the 102 samples of the two 

 succeeding seasons by sedimentation during a period of seven 

 months. 



'Vt. Sta. Bui. 26 (1891); Rut. 18, p. 334 (1905); U. S. Dept. Agr.. 

 Bu. Chem., Bui. 134, pp. 74-75 (1910). 



