Character and Causes of Soft Pork. 515 



fertiliser containing nitrate of soda slightly acid, and that 

 receiving mineral fertiliser containing sulphate of ammonia 

 strongly acid. The unmanured soil contained three-fourths 

 of its organic matter in active form — soluble in 4 percent, 

 ammonia water, according to the Official-Grandeau method. 

 The largest amount of active humus was found in the plot 

 receiving mineral fertiliser containing sulphate of ammonia. 

 The plot receiving manure and lime contained, both absolutely 

 and relatively, less active humus than the unmanured plot. 

 The supply of nitrogen was greatest in the plot receiv- 

 ing manure and lime. The use of lime alone apparently 

 " rapidly diminishes humus of all kinds, and results in a 

 marked loss of nitrogen." 



Character and Causes of Soft Pork. 



In Bulletin No. 38 of the Experimental Farm series of the 

 Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, an account is given of 

 certain investigations undertaken in 1899, 1900 and 1901 by 

 Mr. F. T. Shutt, M.A., of the Dominion Experimental Farm, 

 into the character and causes of soft pork. 



The first object was the determination of the difference in 

 the chemical composition of "firm" and "soft" pork. The 

 experiments undertaken in this direction showed very clearly 

 that the fat of " soft " bacon contains a much larger 

 proportion of olein than that of the " firm " bacon, with 

 a correspondingly smaller proportion of the solid fats, 

 palmitin and stearin ; also that the melting point of the fat of 

 the " soft" bacon was much lower than that of the " firm " 

 quality. Further investigations indicated that the olein 

 content and the melting point of the fat, especially the 

 former,, were more reliable than any other data for estimating 

 the degrees of firmness in bacon ; and they were accordingly 

 adopted as standards for comparing the various samples 

 dealt with. 



A large number of experiments were made to test the 

 effect of various factors upon the quality of the pork. Among 

 the more important conclusions drawn from these investiga- 



LL2 



