14 



CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF APPLES AND CIDER. 



The chemical composition of American apples has been studied so 

 little up to the present time that there is not much material for com- 

 parison. In Bulletin No. 71 of the Bureau of Chemistry, issued in 

 1903, the data then available on the subject were collected, and no special 

 work of this nature has been published since, so far as can be ascer- 

 tained. The data herein presented comprise, therefore, the greatest 

 number of analyses of varieties that has yet been made in any one 

 season and include a considerable number of varieties commonly grown 

 in the United States. This report necessarily lacks the conclusive- 

 ness which attaches to a work covering a series of years, but takes its 

 place merely as a contribution to the solution of the problem under 

 consideration. 



In connection with the average composition of the apple must shown 

 by these analyses it is interesting to compare them with the averages 

 obtained in some previous work done on American apples, as given in 

 Table IV. 



TABLE IV. Average composition of apple musts (compiled). 



These averages bear a close relation to the results given in. the pre- 

 ceding tables when it is remembered that the figures for summer 

 varieties can not properly be compared with results on winter fruits. 

 The gradual increase in solids and total sugars in passing from sum- 

 mer to fall and winter varieties supports in a way the well -recognized 

 facts as to their quality, but these differences are much less striking 

 than one would expect when the averages are considered. The indi- 

 vidual variations, however, of the several varieties of any given season, 

 as compared with each other, are far more important, and what is 

 also more to the point, these variations clearly indicate qualit}^. 

 For example, Summer Pearrnain, the high rank of which is con- 

 ceded, shows 16.05 per cent of total solids and 12.44 per cent of total 

 sugars (Table II), the highest result of any summer or fall variety. 

 The analysis of Jersey Sweet, one of the good varieties of its 

 season, shows a relatively high per cent of total sugar, and in 

 cane sugar surpasses all of the summer and fall varieties, but it 

 has a low acid content. The low sugar content of Red June and 

 Oldenburg is very striking, and the latter is the poorest in cane 



