May, 1910,1 



401 



Edible Products. 



cacao and a sweet and agreeable taste. 

 Both taste and odour are eliminated by 

 boiling the fat with absolute alcohol, 

 and in this condition it keeps a long time 

 without becoming rancid. It is firm 

 in consistency and melts at from 32° to 

 35°C. according to quality. Its density 

 varies from 0-890 to 0-900 at 15°C It is 

 very soluble in ether, acetic ether, chloro- 

 form and essence of turpentine. It is 

 sometimes adulterated with a mixture of 

 stearin, paraffin and beef fat. If it is 

 mixed with tatty oils it melts at a tem- 

 perature of less than 25°C, and if it is 

 mixed with paraffin and beef fat it melts 

 at a temperature in excess of 35°C. If 

 pure, the point of fusion should not be 

 less than 25° nor more than 30°C. 



The butter having now been with- 

 drawn from the mass there remains an 

 oily cake, which is ground to a fine pow- 

 der, and commands a very wide sale. The 

 powder is usually prepared, according 

 to the Dutch method, by the addition of 

 a solution of chemically pure potash. 

 Less frequently, soda is used instead, or 

 perhaps a solution of ammonium car- 

 bonate. In ordinary practice, the raw 

 beanf with their shell might be expected 

 to yield from 40 to 45 per cent, of their 

 weight in butter, and 30 per cent, of cacao 

 powder. 



MATE OR PARANA— TEA. 

 (Heinzb in Beih. zum Tt openpflanzer, 

 February, 1910.— Abstracted by 

 J. C Willis.) 



Mate (Ilex paraguayensis) occurs in 

 several varieties, and other species of 

 Ilex are sometimes used as substitutes. 

 It is found mainly in the highlands of 

 .the Parana basin, between 20° and 30°S. 

 latitude and at elevations from 1,500 feet 

 upwards. 



The plants are grown from seed, and 

 planted out at six months old. Cutting 

 is done only in the six colder months, 

 and the tree when cut back is allowed 

 three or four years' rest. The branches 

 are hacked off and passed once or twice 

 through the flames of a wood fire. The 

 large stems are then removed, and the 

 best mate is dried on a barbecue (speci- 

 ally constructed as described in the 

 paper) for not more than six hours, 



After drying the mate is broken up by 

 a machine, and is then raw mate, which 

 is later pulverised and sifted. 



Details and statistics of trade are then 

 given. 



51 



SOME COMPARATIVE CROP 

 VALUES. 



(Prom the Louisiana Planter, Vol. 

 XLIV., No. 10, March 5, 1910.) 



The cry now-a-days is for American 

 lands to produce the heaviest possible 

 food crops. It is worth while to note 

 the yield and value of three of our grain 

 crops in comparison with the returns of 

 bean aud cane sugar. 



The wheat fields of the United States 

 yield about 15 bushels to the acre, whicV- 

 is considerably less than those of 

 England, France, and Germany after 

 centuries of rotative and scientific culti- 

 vation. After the original preparation 

 of the land with the plough and harrow 

 and the planting of its seed, wheat is 

 grown without further cultivation. One 

 man and a boy with four horses and 

 modern implements to prepare the land 

 can attend to about 150 acres of wheat 

 up to the harvest. It is cheaply 

 harvested, being reaped rapidly and. 

 threshed by steam machinery. On the 

 farm it is worth about $1 per bushel, 

 $15 per acre, and $2,250 as a gross return 

 for the man and boy's work, from which 

 the harvest expenses must be deducted. 



Our corn crop is the greatest and most 

 valuable of our agricultural productions. 

 Last year it reached very nearly three 

 million bushels, and year before last two 

 and three-quarter millions, and w r as 

 valued each of the two years at $1,500,000. 

 The average yield of the corn states was 

 about 27 bushels to the acre. One man 

 with a team is supposed to take care of 

 about 40 acres of it, giving it two or 

 three rounds of cultivation during its 

 growing season. Its harvesting costs 

 little, and is often done by droves of 

 hogs and herds of cattle turned into the 

 fields to fatten on it, It is worth on the 

 farm about 50 cts. a bushel, $13-50 per 

 acre and about $540 as the product of one 

 man's work. 



Our Southern rice returns an average 

 yield of about 30 bushels to the acre, as 

 did last year. The work necessary to 

 this crop is so variable according to 

 locality, that one man's capacity in its 

 production up to the harvest could be 

 more guessed at than measured accur- 

 ately. It would be probably 40 acres on 

 the level drainable prairie lands, and 

 20 acres on the low "riverlands" of 

 Louisiana, and the rice swamps of the 

 Carolina coast. Taking the average at 

 30 acres, that area must be ploughed, 

 harrowed and planted, ii rigated until it 

 is ready for the harvest, and weeded 

 usually during the first part of its 

 growth. According to its location its 

 harvest is cheap or costly, grown where 



