128 ANNUAL EEPORTS OF DEPAFiTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



meats were continued and completed. It was established tliat high- 

 grade meat can be cured as well in sterilized old pickle, properly 

 strengthened, as in new pickle. It is entirely practicable, there- 

 fore, instead of discarding pickling solutions after use, to clarify, 

 sterilize, and strengthen them and then use them again, with a con- 

 siderable saving in the ingredients. Examinations showed that 

 pickle after use still contained approximately, from 52 to 67 per 

 cent of the original content of salt, from 44 to 74 per cent of the 

 sugar, and from 41 to 80 per cent of the sodium nitrate. 



An attempt was made to determine whether the entire quantity 

 of sucrose (cane or beet sugar) used in curing meats could be re- 

 placed by some other sugar, so as to release the cane and beet sugar 

 .for general household purposes. Inquiry developed that there is 

 generally an ample supply of substitutes for granulated sugar in 

 the form of (1) "refiners' sirup," a by-product resulting during 

 the manufacture of granulated sugar, and (2) corn sugar or dex- 

 trose, which is produced in several different grades. Practical cur- 

 ing experiments with meats in which several grades of corn sugar 

 and refiners' sirup were compared with gi*anulated sugar (sucrose) 

 were carried out in four different meat-packing establishments. 

 Nineteen tierces of hams, 19 tierces of sweet-pickled bellies, 9 boxes 

 of fancy breakfast bacons, and 10 tierces of beef hams were cured. 

 In these experiments several commercial grades of corn sugar or 

 dextrose gave as good result^ as granulated sugar in the curing of 

 hams, sweet-pickled bellies, and beef hams. The corn sugar did 

 not appear to give quite as fancy a grade of bacon as the granulated 

 sugar, but the results in this respect are inconclusive. The differ- 

 ences observed were largely due to slight variations in color, the 

 bacon cured with corn sugar tending to become somewhat browner 

 when fried than that which was cured with cane sugar. The re- 

 finers' sirup yielded satisfactory results in the curing of hams and 

 sweet-pickled_ bellies (in fact it is now used to a considerable extent 

 for this purpose), but it did not seem to give as good results in the 

 curing of beef hams. On the Avhole, the results of this investigation 

 indicate that corn sugar and refiners' sirup can be used successfully 

 in the curing of pork in place of cane or beet sugar, and that if 

 the need for rigid conservation of our sugar supply should again 

 arise the entire quantity of sucrose ordinarily used in curing pork 

 could be diverted to other uses without harm to the industry. 



Investigations to determine the fitness of certain inedible oils as 

 substitutes for lard oil as an ingredient in railway signal oil were 

 terminated during the year. Signal oil is used largely in railway 

 trainmen's lanterns, the oil in most general use consisting of abopt 75 

 per cent of a standard grade of petroleum and 25 or 30 per cent of 

 lard oil or sperm oil. Studies were made of whale oil, menhaden oil, 

 and rapeseed oil as substitutes for lard oil. Extensive tests were 

 made in the laboratories and practical tests were made through the 

 cooperation of three of the large railway systems. Indications are 

 that whale oil and menhaden oil are not well suited for the purpose. 

 Rapeseed oil gave fairly satisfactory results in laboratory tests, but 

 railway officials were of the opinion that signal oil made v/itli it as 

 a substitute for lard oil is inferior to the usual mixture of lard oil 



