30 



BULLETIN" 466, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Soluble and insoluble ash. — The insoluble ash in the United States 

 samples shows an average figure of 0.33 per cent, with extremes of 

 0.81 and 0.21 per cent, but when Canada is included, the average 

 figure is 0.36 per cent, with extremes of 1 and 0.21 per cent. 

 These again are somewhat lower than the figures obtained for sap 

 sirup. One sample from Michigan, one from Ohio, and one from 

 Pennsylvania had only 0.22 per cent of insoluble ash, and another 

 from Pennsylvania had 0.21 per cent. The total ash in each of these 

 instances was not low, but was near the minimum line. The results 

 obtained by grouping the samples by localities and dividing the 

 insoluble ash contents into classes bv 0.10 per cent are given in 

 Table XV. 



Table XV. — Insoluble ash content of sugar, by locality. 





Number of samples. 



Per- 

 cent- 



Insoluble 

 ash content. 



Ind. 



Me. 



Md. 



Mass. 



Mich. 



N. H. 



N. Y. 



Ohio. 



Pa. 



Vt. 



W. Va. 



Can- 

 ada. 



Total. 



age 



of 

 sam- 

 ples. 



Per cent. 

 Below 0.23 . . . 











i 1 

 8 

 6 

 7 

 1 







il 



6 

 5 



17 

 2 



22 



4 



14 

 14 

 6 

 2 

 1 









4 



35 

 112 

 112 

 49 

 24 

 17 

 6 

 3 



1.4 



0.23 



4 

 5 

 4 

 2 

 3 



1 



1 

 2 



1 

 5 

 4 

 1 



4 

 8 

 2 



6 

 5 

 1 



7 

 29 

 15 



4 









8.6 



.24 to 0.29... 

 .30 to .39... 

 .40 to .49... 

 .50" to .59... 



18 



24 



7 



8 



5 



3 

 2 

 2 



15 

 18 

 '22 

 9 

 8 

 5 

 2 



30.8 

 30.8 

 13.5 

 6.6 



.60 to .69... 













1 





4.7 



.70 to .79... 



1 













1.6 



.80 to .89... 



















3 i 





0.8 



.90 to .99... 

























1.00 to 1.09... 

























«1 



1 



0.2 





























Total.. 



19 1 4 



11 



14 



23 



12 



56 



31 



43 



63 



7 



80 



363 



100.0 



3 0.81. 



1.00. 



From this it is seen that 72.6 per cent of the samples have an 

 insoluble ash content of less than 0.40 per cent. In Canada 59 per 

 cent of the samples have a higher number than that, while all the 

 West Virginia samples have a higher insoluble ash content than 

 0.40 per cent. The other States show their largest figures below 

 0.40 per cent. 



Percentage of soluble ash divided by percentage of insoluble ash. — The 

 average figure is 1.69; that is, the percentage of insoluble ash is 

 about 55 per cent of the soluble ash. The highest is 4.07 and the 

 lowest, 0.43. Among the sap sirups some 29 samples, or 6 per cent, 

 showed a ratio below 1.0; among the sugar sirups 8 per cent were 

 found with this low ratio. These samples were confined to the 

 State of Vermont and to Canada. From Table XVI, showing the 

 data by groups of 0.01 and 0.25, it is seen that the largest percent- 

 age of samples falls between 1.25 and 2.75. 



