62 maine agricuivturaiv experiment station. i909. 



Extract oe Peppermint. 



There was an error in the remarks in the case of three 

 extracts of peppermint reported in Official Inspections 8. The 

 analyses were correctly given. The comments should have read 

 in the case of the Forest City Brand made at 27, 29 Hampden 

 St., Springfield, Mass., "i 1-2 times standard strength;" and the 

 Harris Pure made by Frank E. Harris, Binghampton, N. Y., 

 should have been "2 1-2 times standard strength;" and that at 

 Spaulding's drug store, Hallowell, should have read "3 times 

 standard strength." 



Sweet Corn. 



The sweet corn industry is a very important one in Maine and 

 the quality of the corn grown in Maine had led to labeling corn 

 as Maine corn that was grown in other states. Because of this 

 practice the National food and drug act which forbids the use 

 of erroneous geographical names, has greatly helped the corn 

 packing industry in this State. In order to ascertain whether 

 the corn offered in Maine was really Maine grown, samples 

 purporting to be Maine packed were collected in retail stores in 

 different parts of the State. By correspondence each lot of 

 corn was traced back to the factory and found to be strictly 

 Maine produced. 



There is but little in the chemical analysis that can show the 

 quality of a corn other than its purity. It will be noted that 

 some samples of corn had considerably more dry matter than 

 others, but that does not necessarily mean that they were better 

 flavored. In fact a corn with some of the lower percentages 

 of dry matter might be more palatable than the one with the 

 higher percentage of solids. 



There is no evidence of adulteration in these corns. Probably 

 most of them had been sweetened with cane sugar and it may 

 have been that corn starch had been added to thicken some but 

 this fact cannot be proven by chemical analysis. Sweet corn 

 naturally carries sugar and corn starch and small amounts of 

 these may be added without the fact being proven by analysis. 

 It is gratifying to note that none of the samples contained 

 saccharine or preservatives.' In one case, however, sulphites 

 were apparently found but the examination of six other cans 

 from the same pack failed to disclose any sulphurous acid. 



