22 CIRCULAR 952. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



210 pounds per acre of 3-5-40 dust (6.3 pounds of gamma BHC). 

 Neither of the panels rated this sample as significantly off-flavored 

 and its chemically determined BHC content of 0.09 p. p. m. is well 

 below the estimated limit of reliability of the assay method. Two 

 additional commercial samples (tables 1, 4) followed cotton treated 

 with 110 pounds per acre of dust to provide applications of BHC 

 (3.3 pounds of gamma per acre) approaching the 3.8 pounds of gamma 

 used on one-half of the Holland plots in 1951. The chemically deter- 

 mined BHC contents of these samples were at or below the level of 

 reliability of the analytical method and results of. the palatibility 

 tests were irregular and hence of questionable significance. In this 

 connection, Fleming and Maines (6) studying DDT in soils noted that 

 its persistence is modified by many factors other than method of 

 application such as organic content and texture of soil, cultural prac- 

 tices, and environmental conditions. They found DDT to be most 

 persistent in sand, least in muck, comparable in different types of 

 loam; in general decreased persistence correlated with increasing soil 

 organic matter. Earlier studies by Chulski (3) indicated a similar 

 relationship between soil type and persistence of BHC. 



It is possible that some of the variant findings of the studies re- 

 ported here may be attributable to such differences in character of 

 soil in which the peanuts were produced. Insofar as data are avail- 

 able, however, all peanuts tested in this study were grown in soils 

 that would be classified as sandy loams with the exception of the 1951 

 samples from Holland, Va. The latter were grown in soils classified 

 as Woodstown fine loamy sand. If, as reported for DDT by Fleming 

 and Maines (6), BHC is also most persistent in sands, then the find- 

 ing of significant quantities of BHC and associated off-flavors in the 

 Holland samples may be due in part to this factor. It also seems 

 possible, though the authors are not aware of confirming evidence, 

 that BHC in soils might be reduced more rapidly than under normal 

 conditions during seasons of heavy rainfall. Climatological records, 

 however, do not indicate any wide deviations from normal rainfall 

 over the areas involved during the years 1949 through 1951. 



A significant observation in the studies on the 1952 samples from 

 South Carolina was that peanuts which followed cotton treated with 

 BHC dust at rates providing up to 5 pounds of gamma per acre were 

 not characterized by significant off-flavors nor did they contain 

 significant quantities of the insecticide. Because of the high gamma 

 content (36 percent) of the BHC used in these tests the heaviest 

 dosage of 5 pounds of gamma isomer per acre deposited only 14 

 pounds per acre of total isomers in the South Carolina tests. This 

 compared with a total deposit of 39 pounds per acre to provide the 

 same dosage of gamma from BHC containing 13 percent of gamma 

 in the Holland tests, in which significant quantities of BHC were 

 found in samples of both soils and peanuts and the latter were char- 

 acterized by off-flavors typical of BHC. It is pertinent to note here 

 that studies with other products have shown that the alpha, beta, 

 and delta isomers of technical BHC may also contribute to off-flavor 

 development, and have indicated that effects of the different isomers 

 on flavor may vary with the product treated (5). 



Comparison of the results of the Holland and South Carolina tests 

 indicates the flavor-tainting potentialities for peanuts of those isomers, 

 other than the insecticidal gamma isomer, of technical grades of 



