Agriculturai Chemistry.
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that a commercial cell can be thus constructed, but the cell is very interesting scientifically. J. W. RICHARDS.
AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY. A Study of Some of the Salts Formed by Casein and Paracasein with Acids-Their Relations to American Cheddar Cheese. BY L. L.VANSLYKE AND E. B. HART. N . Y.State Agr. Expt. Sta. Bull. No. 214, pp. 53-7g.-The relation of acids to the changes taking place in cheese curd was investigated. I n extracting cheese with a dilute solution of sodium chloride a body was obtained which resembled in both physical and chemical properties that prepared by treating paracasein with dilute lactic acid. This salt-soluble product was always present in normal cheese, the quantity varying apparently with the amount of acid. I t was found that both paracasein and casein combine with a number of acids to form unsaturated or mono-acid salts and saturated or di-acid salts. ‘‘ The unsaturated salts formed by casei’n and paracaseyn with acids are soluble in dilute solutions of sodium chloride and in 50 per cent. hot alcohol, but insoluble in water. The saturated salts are practically insoluble iu water, dilute salt solutions, and 50 per cent. hot alcohol. Both forms are sparingly soluble in dilute solutions of calcium lactate and calcium carbonate. ” The important changes taking place in the curd are considered due to the formation of the unsaturated paracasei‘n lactate, with which product the ripening process begins, and not with paracase‘in as has been universally held. “ T h e first step in the normal ripening process of American Cheddar cheese is probably a peptic digestion of unsaturated paracasein lactate.” H. W. LAWSON. Some of the Compounds Present in American Cheddar ANI) E. B. HART. N. Y.State Cheese. BY I,. L.VANSLYKE Agr. Expt. Sta. Bull. No. 2r9, pp. 203-216.--In studying the changes which take place in cheese during the ripening process, the authors found lysatine, histidine, and lysine in cheese four and one-half months old, and putrescine and lysine in cheese fifteen months old. Paranuclein was present in all the cheeses examined. The studies indicate that there is normally in the ripening of hard cheese a conversion of primary into secondary amido compounds, to which may be attributed the gradual development of flavor. T h e methods used in the separation of the different compounds are given. H. W. LAWSON. A llilk Unusually Rich in Solids. BY M, H. PINGREE.Pa. Agr. Expt. Sta. Rep., 1901,pp. ~gz-~gq.-’I’he milk of a healthy Guernsey cow four years old, and in her second lactation period, was found to contain on an average for two months, 5 . 8 per cent. of fat. Two samples taken about a month apart, soon after the
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Review of Americaa Chemicai Research.
above record was obtained, showed the following percentage composition : Moisture 82.99 and 84.28, total solids 17.01 and 15.72, fat 6.40 and 5.90, casein and albumin 4.37 and 3.80, lactose 5.25 and 5.34, and ash 0.99 and 0 . 7 2 , specific gravity at 60' F. 1.0372 and 1.035. T h e normal condition of the milk was considered as established by the relation of the different constituents. H. W. LAWSOX.
Study of nethods of Cattle Food Analysis. BY C. A. BROWNE,J R . , A N D C. P. BEISTLE. Pa. Agr. E.qbf. S f a . Rep., I go I , pp. I I 7-122.-Duplicate determinations were made of the moisture, starch, pentosan, and galactan, in wheat, bran, and clover seed. T h e methods employed were, with some niodifications, those of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists for which the work was clone, the object being to compare the H. IT.LAWSON. results obtained by different analysts. The Nature, Determination, and Distribution of the Pentosans in the Sea Island Cotton. BY F. S. SIII\TR. S. C. Agr. Ezpt. S f a . BUN.No. 78, 38 pp.-The author reviews the literature of pentosans and their estimation and gives determinations by both the phenylhydrazine and phloroglucinol methods, of pentosans in the lint, seed, kernels, hulls, bolls, leaves, stems, and roots of the finest and coarsest varieties of Sea Island cotton of the crops of 1896 and 1898. The results are given in detail and discussed at some length. The whole plant showed an average pentosan content of 13.54 per cent. and the meal 12.92 per cent. T h e percentage varied in the different parts from 1.53 H. 11'. LAWSOX. in the lint to 21.88in the hulls. The Analytical Methods for Carbohydrates a s Applied to Foods and Feeding-Stuffs. BY W. H KRCG. 1. F?-ank. h s f . , 154, 349-366, 401-422. - T h e general principles involved in the determination of sugars, starch, pentosans, and galactan are discussed, and special methods of analysis are described with particular reference to the detection of adulteration in meats and meat products, milk and milk products, flour and breadstuffs, sugars, fruit products, confectionery, beer, malt extracts, wines, distilled liquors, coffee, cocoa, spices, and condiments. H. W. LAWSOX-. Observations on the Production of Vinegar in Cellars. BY W. B. ALWOODA N D R. J. DAVIDSON. Va. 477.. &#t. S a . Bull. No. 127, pp. 63-71.-Several barrels of cider were stored in an ordinary cellar and sampled and analyzed at frequent intervals. T h e maximum content of alcohol was reached in from 18 to 44 days after pressing. T h e acetic acid reached 3.5 per cent. in from 350 to 418 days. In laboratory experiments, no acetic acid was formed during alcoholic fermentation. T h e bulletin is made u p
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aainly of analytical data and is issued, as were two previous bulletins of the station, as preliminary to a more extended study of vinegar production. H. W. LAWSON.
Effect of Different Systems of nanuring upon the Amount and Quality of the Humus in the Soil. BY W. FREAR AND E. H. HESS. Pa. Agr. Ezpt. Sta. Rep., 1901, pp. 173-186.Further studies of the humus in soils which had received different fertilizer applicatious for a long series of years are reported. Biennial applications for nearly twenty years of barnyard manure containing about 534 pounds of nitrogen, resulted in an excess of 5 2 2 pounds of nitrogen per acre in the soil over that in unfertilized soil similarly treated in other respects. T h e use of lime decreased the amount of residual nitrogen. T h e application of complete mineral fertilizers containing 684 pounds of nitrogen resulted in an increase of only 260 pounds of nitrogen. H. W. LAWSON. Soil Analyses. BY W. FREARA N D C. P . BEISTLE. Pa. Agr. Expt. Sta. Rep., 1901, pp. 137-17z.-The article contains analyses of manured and unmanured tobacco soils in Cuba and an analysis of a mica schist soil in Pennsylvania. T h e results with the unmanured Cuban soils have been reported by the authors in an abridged form in this Journal, 25, 5.. T h e soils to which composted stable manure had been applied liberally, showed a lower specific gravity, more humus, and much greater quantities of lime and citrate-soluble potash and phosphoric acid. H. W. LAWSON. Limestones. BY W. FREAR.Pa. Agr. Expt. Sta. Rep., 1901, pp. 187-1g1.-This gives descriptions and analyses of 42 H. W. LAWSON. samples of limestone. Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria. BY J. G. LIPMAN.Pop. Sn'. Monthly, 62, 137-144.-The author discusses the source of nitrogen as plant food, nitrification and denitrification in soils, and the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by root tubercles and by soil H. W. LAWSOW. bacteria independent of leguminous plants. The Standardization of Sulphuric Acid. BY F. S. SHIVER. S. C. Agr. Expt. . n u . Bull. No. 77. 7 pp.-Methods for the standardization of sulphuric acid were compared, the results showing, according to the author, that the ammonium sulphate method is fully as accurate and far more simple and rapid than the barium chloride method, and that the two indirect methods proposed by Sorensen, in which sodium oxalate and sodium bicarbonate, respectively, are used give results which are too low. H. W. LAWSON.
