526  Clove  Moisture  Content:  Storage  Efteet.  { ^Vembe'/iQiT* 
weight  throughout  the  period  covered  by  the  experiment.  The  sea- 
sonal changes,  while  similar  to  those  of  the  other  cities,  are  not  so 
marked. 
Many  other  interesting  facts  might  be  pointed  out,  but  it  is  not 
the  intent  of  this  paper  to  go  into  an  exhaustive  discussion  of  the 
data  obtained.  \Ye  have  only  attempted  to  bring  to  your  attention 
a  few  of  the  more  interesting  facts  and  leave  a  fuller  discussion  of 
the  report  for  some  later  paper. 
EFFECT  OF  STORAGE  OX  MOISTURE  CONTEXT  OF 
CLOVES.1 
By  A.  W.  Ogden. 
A  spice  merchant  charged  with  misbranding  under  the  Food  and 
Drugs  Act  of  June  30,  1906,  for  the  sale  of  short  weight  cloves,  al- 
leged that  the  shortage  was  due  to  natural  causes  and  that  a  loss  of 
15  to  18  per  cent,  in  weight  of  whole  cloves  in  a  few  days  was  not 
unusual.  To  determine  the  effect  of  storage  on  the  weight  of  whole 
cloves,  a  number  of  samples  were  taken  from  original  unbroken  bales 
after  arrival  in  this  country  and  stored  in  ordinary  wooden  spice 
boxes  in  a  dry  storeroom  in  New  York  City.  Gross  weighings  were 
made  at  intervals  and  as  these  showed  a  gradual  loss  the  experiment 
was  continued  and  careful  net  weighings  were  made  after  periods  of 
six  months  and  54  months.  Below  are  given  the  analyses  and  the 
average  losses  for  periods  specified: 
Table  of  Analyses 
,  Ash  , 
Insoluble 
in  10  per  ,  J3ther  extracts   «  Loss  in  weight  
Moisture     Total    cent.  HC1  Volatile   Xon-volatile  6  months    54  months 
No.                       %  %  %             %  %  %  % 
1                           8.17  7.27  0.20  15.16  6.54  5.81  7.83 
2   IO.76  5.93  0.10  18.71  5.47  4.4O  7.05 
3   8.01  5.79  0.10  18.63  542  0.25  2.50 
4   9-3i  5-75  0.09  19.10  5.40  1. 10  3.51 
5   8.91  5.59  0.09  19.34  5-20  2.64  4.96 
6   743  6.13  0.08  19.67  5.45  1.25  3.50 
7   7-8i  5-98  0.08  18.51  5.46  1.50  3.75 
Minimum.,.     7.43  5.59  0.08  15.16  5.20  0.25  2.50 
Maximum...  10.76  7.27  0.20  19-67  6.54  5.81  7.83 
Average             8.63  6.06  0.11  1845  5.56  2.42  4.70 
1  Paper  read  at  19th  annual  convention  of  the  Association  of  American 
Dairy,  Food  and  Drug  Officials,  at  Berkeley,  CaL,  Aug.  2-5,  191 5. 
