DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY. 97 



were also planted at the experiment station of the Department on the 

 island below Long Bridge, District of Columbia. Each collaborating 

 station kept a complete field record of its operations, including the 

 method of preparing the soil, time of planting, character of cultiva- 

 tion, and time of harvest. The observers of the Weather Bureau, at 

 or near the points at which the experiments were made, kept a regu- 

 lar, full record of precipitation, temperature, and hours of sunshine. 

 Analyses of the beets grown were made both at the collaborating 

 stations and in this laboratory. Since the beets were all produced by 

 seed of the same kind, grown in the same locality and of the same 

 quality, and since the conditions, aside from environment, were prac- 

 tically the same in all cases, it is evident that any variation in the 

 chemical composition of the beets produced must have been clue to 

 soil and seasonal influences. 



The analytical data were tabulated, and from these data descriptive 

 charts were drawn, three in number. In each of the three charts the 

 content of sugar was taken as the basic line of illustration. The 

 collaborating stations, together with the station at Washington, D. C, 

 were arranged in the order of the sugar content. The first chart 

 represents by platted curves the percentage of sugar in the beets, the 

 latitude of the collaborating stations, the hours of sunshine in a per- 

 centage of the total possible sunshine, and the distribution of sun- 

 shine by months, that is, the number of clear days calculated on a 

 scale of 30. 



The second chart contains, platted in like manner, the sugar in the 

 beets in percentage, the total rainfall on a scale of inches, the altitude, 

 being the distance of the collaborating stations above the sea level in 

 feet, and the distribution of rainfall by months, scale in inches. 



The third chart contains the percentage of sugar in the beets, the 

 coefficient of purity of the juice of the beets on a scale of 100, the 

 temperature during the growing months, scale in degrees Fahrenheit, 

 and the average length of the days, scale in hours and minutes. 



These charts, with the accompanying text, are believed to present 

 the first really systematic statement of the effects of environment upon 

 the sugar beet which has ever been published in this country. This 

 is said without casting any reflection whatever upon the previous 

 publications of this Department on the same subject. It must not be 

 forgotten, however, that the previous publications were merely inci- 

 dental to the principal end which was kept in view, viz, the determi- 

 nation of the sugar content of the beet over wide areas of distribution. 

 A bulletin containing the chemical data, descriptive text, and the 

 graphic charts above mentioned will soon be published. 



INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON THE GLUTEN CONTENT OF WHEAT. 



Under authority of Congress, the investigation of the influence of 

 environment on the gluten content of wheat was conducted through 

 the collaboration of experiment stations in different parts of the 

 country. The stations engaged in the work were those of California, 

 Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, and Missouri. . 

 The wheat which was sown at these various stations was all of the 

 same kind. The chemical composition of this wheat was carefully 

 determined before the distribution of the seed. Samples of the wheat 

 grown in the different stations were sent on for analysis and the 

 analytical data were obtained in the same manner as in the original 



AGR 1901 7 



