^ZeVfrnT'}   Some  Effects  of  Storage  on  Coffee.  525 
can  packages  it  was  noted  that,  while  there  is  an  increase  in  weight, 
this  increase  is  much  slower  and  more  uniform  and  the  maximum 
is  not  reached  within  a  year;  in  fact,  the  maximum  has  probably 
not  been  reached  in  the  period  covered  by  this  experiment,  namely, 
60  weeks. 
Comparison  of  the  curves  for  the  whole  and  ground  coffees  show 
that  in  most  cases  there  was  a  greater  increase  in  weight  in  the  whole 
beans  than  in  the  ground  coffee.  It  was  found  in  the  course  of  the 
investigation,  however,  that  the  paper  bags  became  saturated  with 
the  oil  from  the  coffee  and  the  cartons  partially  saturated.  This  con- 
dition, undoubtedly,  affected  the  tare  of  the  containers  and  thereby 
influenced  the  results  in  some  cases.  Furthermore,  this  oil,  by  clog- 
ging the  pores  of  the  containers  and  preventing  the  easy  passage  of 
the  moisture  to  a  certain  extent,  may  have  effected  the  change ;  also 
the  oil  if  easily  volatilized  would  give  a  further  loss  in  weight.  This 
may  account  for  the  difference  between  the  whole  and  ground  coffee 
in  the  paper  bags  and  the  cardboard  cartons.  This  condition,  of 
course,  did  not  occur  in  the  case  of  the  tin  can  packages. 
The  seasonal  changes  are  also  interesting.  It  was  noted  in 
the  paper  bags  and  cartons  the  maximum  increase  in  weight  was 
reached  in  the  Fall  months,  namely,  September  and  October.  During 
the  Winter  months  there  is  a  loss  from  the  weight  during  the  Fall 
months,  while  during  the  Spring  and  Summer  there  is  very  little 
change,  the  rise  beginning  in  the  late  Summer  and  Fall.  Apparently 
the  coffee  in  the  sealed  tin  cans  is  not  greatly  affected  by  the  varying 
moisture  conditions  of  the  different  seasons.  We  have  not  in  this 
paper  attempted  to  plot  the  curves  showing  the  variations  between  the 
samples  held  at  Chicago,  New  Orleans,  Denver  and  New  York.  It 
may  be  stated,  however,  that  the  changes  at  New  York,  Chicago  and 
New  Orleans  were  very  similar,  the  principal  difference  being  in  the 
percentage  of  increase.  The  results  at  Denver  show  some  variation 
from  those  of  the  other  cities,  particularly  the  paper  bags  and  card- 
board carton  packages.  This  is  illustrated  in  the  chart  given  in  the 
original  paper  for  the  ground  samples. 
It  was  noted  that  the  coffee  in  the  tins  at  Denver  shows  a 
similar  change  to  that  of  the  other  cities,  namely,  a  gradual  increase. 
This  increase,  however,  is  much  slower.  In  the  paper  bags  and  the 
cartons  there  was  a  rapid  increase  at  the  first  weighing,  which  weigh- 
ing was  made  on  the  arrival  of  the  coffee  at  Denver  and,  therefore, 
in  reality  covers  the  period  of  transportation.  This  is  followed  by 
loss  after  which  these  two  forms  of  packages  show  a  very  uniform 
