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paints, fats, and oils, principally for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; 301 samples were examined for the Department of Agriculture; 1,217 for the General Supply Committee; and 310 for the Isthmian Canal Commission.

INSPECTION OF FOODS AND DRUGS.

The inspection force of the Bureau of Chemistry collected 9,500 official samples of foods and drugs during the fiscal year, and 2,000 additional samples for use in scientific investigations relating to the enforcement of the food law, providing data on which 312 seizures were based. Each of these samples was referred to the appropriate laboratory at Washington or to one of the 21 branch inspection laboratories, the reports from the latter points showing that 3,280 interstate samples were found to be legal and 3,113 misbranded or adulterated, while 503 check analyses were made to insure that correct results were obtained before recommending action on the samples. In connection with this work 5,370 hearings were held, less than half being by correspondence. There were 96,129 floor inspections made of imported products, of which over half were made at New York. A total of 9,698 imported foods and drugs were analyzed at these ports, of which number 3,085 were adjudged adulterated or misbranded and 1,268 were released without prejudice to future shipments. The miscellaneous samples examined at the branches aggregated 1,406, making a total of 18,000 samples.

In this connection there must be considered the analyses made at the Washington food and drug inspection laboratories and at the special laboratories handling specific classes of materials, such as the dairy products, waters, cattle foods, flavoring extracts, and essential oils. Here check analyses are made and all cases prepared for the consideration of the Solicitor, in addition to the original analyses made for inspection or investigation work. Approximately 752 samples are reported by the drug-inspection laboratories, of which 529 were domestic products; 231 of these were found to be adulterated or misbranded. The Food Inspection Laboratory proper reports 2,067 domestic samples and 1,097 imported foods, largely check samples on branch laboratory reports; in this laboratory 2,142 cases were prepared for consideration. In addition the Food Technology Laboratory reports 108 initial and check samples and 185 cases prepared on extracts and essential oils; the Dairy Laboratory reports 320 official interstate and import samples and the preparation of 347 cases; the Water Laboratory 200 samples, only 39 being of foreign origin, of which 11 were misbranded, while 39 of the 161 interstate samples were considered illegal and 6 seizures were made; of the 500 interstate samples of cattle and poultry foods 76 were found to be adulterated or misbranded. This total of 3,672

domestic and 1,302 import samples at the Washington office gives a general total of 22,974 samples examined in the course of the inspection work alone, including check examinations and other necessary duplications in the work.

DRUG INVESTIGATIONS.

The important cooperation with the Post Office Department in issuing fraud orders against medicinal agents sent through the mails and proved to be of a fraudulent or injurious nature has been continued. As in former years, the consumption, cancer, and epilepsy "cures" continue to form the most important classes of materials handled.

DAIRY PRODUCTS.

While the whole range of dairy products is covered by the examinations made, the evaporated and condensed milks and cheese formed the bulk of the samples examined at the Washington laboratory. An investigation begun in 1909 in regard to the concentration of evaporated milk was completed, and Food Inspection Decision 131 has been issued on this subject. Condensed milk, both sweetened and unsweetened, continues to be made in many instances from skimmed milk; the violations in the cheese trade consist most frequently in short weight or the sale of a skimmed cheese for a full cream. A total of 347 cases were prepared during the year on such products, nearly 200 of which are milks and creams, 44 cheeses, and 40 ice creams.

WATERS.

Mineral and table waters are examined both at source and as found on the market. As a result of the analysis of 161 domestic samples, 39 were found to be adulterated or misbranded and 6 seizures were made, while of the 39 imported waters, the exclusion of 11 was recommended. In this connection an extensive survey of the mineral waters of the United States has been undertaken and the data in regard to the waters of the New England States have been issued as Bureau of Chemistry Bulletin 139. This material is of the utmost value to physicians and consumers, especially those depending on the waters for any therapeutic effect, as well as to those called upon to pass on these waters in the enforcement of the law. Correlated studies include the analysis of public water supplies, investigations for the improvement of methods of water analysis, the character of chemicals used in water purification, etc.

CATTLE FOODS.

The studies of cattle foods and grains are by no means confined to the aspect of adulteration, since economic problems, such as the feed

ing value of forage crops and the composition of grains and cereals, form the fundamental part of the work of the laboratory charged with this subject. Of the 891 samples examined, however, 500 were interstate samples of cattle or poultry foods, and 76 of these were found to be adulterated or misbranded.

SUGAR AND SUGAR PRODUCTS.

The investigation of maple products begun two years ago is nearing completion, the season for the work being so short that the yearly results obtained at the camps are necessarily limited. A mass of analytical data has been determined on samples collected in different parts of the country and manufactured under varying conditions. The data on maple sap sirup have been published as Bureau of Chemistry Bulletin 134, and those on maple sugar and maple-sugar sirup are being compiled. Numerous practical problems attending the collection of the sap and the manufacturing processes are being studied, notably the effect of souring of the sap and of the use of different materials for sap containers and evaporators on the final product.

The studies of the effect of environment on the composition of sugar-bearing plants was extended to include muskmelons, the work being conducted in eight different States, representing widely differing climatic conditions, from Florida to Connecticut and from Arizona to New Jersey. Valuable results, such as were obtained in the five-year experiments on sweet corn and sugar beets, are expected, but no conclusions can be based on one year's work.

Miscellaneous sugar investigations include work on the moisture content of Louisiana cane sirup and molasses, the adaptation of methods of analysis of sugar beets to commercial needs, the chemical examination of imported honeys, and the analysis of American glucose and starch sugars.

PLANT PHYSIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY.

The influence of environment on the chemical composition of various cereals, such as wheat, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, etc., is studied in analyzing the crops grown in different localities during a number of seasons and in comparing the data on composition thus obtained. Thousands of such analyses have been made, and a report is in progress. Wheat is also grown under varying conditions of sun and shade, and plants grown in the Great Plains area are examined to determine the effect on composition of different methods of handling the crop, especially the influence of rotation on production. The composition of different varieties of barley grown in

the same location for several years has been studied, and milling and baking experiments are supplementing the chemical work done to determine the comparative value of different wheats. The starch content of different varieties of potatoes is determined with a view to selecting the best varieties to be grown. These studies are made in collaboration with the Bureau of Plant Industry.

Important physiological studies have included experiments in growing cereals, usually wheat, for a few weeks in water solutions containing different plant foods, and, by the determination of their composition and that of the residual solutions, arriving at important data as to the physiological process of the young plant and its needs. In the same way the effects of different conditions are observed on the root formation of young plants, certain salts having been observed to have a deleterious effect.

The study of starches obtained from different plants, especially with a view to obtaining a more complete extraction than at present, an investigation of the graham flours on the market to determine whether they are mixed or straight, and baking and chemical tests of the availability of cottonseed meal, peanut meal, soy-bean meal, etc., in bread making, are miscellaneous lines of work pursued in connection with the other cereal studies.

ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY.

The most important investigation along this line is perhaps the collection and analysis of about 30 different brands of infants' foods, supplemented by feeding experiments on small animals, using the commercial formulas for preparing the foods and also certain modifications. The detailed data are being collated, and some of the results already have been profitably used in charted form for the information of societies interested in this problem, which is of great importance in the conservation of public health. Other problems attacked by work along these lines include the methods of determining deterioration in meat and fish, a study of beef and yeast extracts of known and unknown origin, and the determination of the solubility in the digestive juices of the silver coatings used on candy.

FOREST SERVICE.

The notable features of the year have been the thoroughgoing attention given to improving the organization of all activities, both field and office, which has amounted to a complete overhauling of the entire administrative mechanism; better application to the National Forests of the fundamental administrative policy laid down for them by Congress, through the development of a steadily higher quality

of technical work; far more effective protection of the Forests against fire than ever before; marked advance in the silvicultural work, both in connection with the cutting of timber and in the field of reforestation; inauguration of work under the Weeks Act, looking to the purchase of lands for National Forests in the White Mountains and Southern Appalachians; and, finally, but by no means least, important progress in laying broad and sure foundations, by means of thorough study of underlying technical problems, for the eventual superstructure of applied conservation, or, in other words, for development of the full latent value of the Forests as public resources. Like all foundation work, what is done in this field is mostly below the surface and attracts little public attention; but it is going quietly yet vigorously forward and is already beginning to justify itself in results. Without such work National Forest management would be a shallow-rooted plant in an arid land.

ORGANIZATION.

From top to bottom the members of the Forest Service have been studying the possibility of improving the machinery and methods in use. One reason for this has been the need everywhere felt to utilize the funds available to the best advantage. All of the various lines of work have been scrutinized in an effort to discover where more economical methods could be employed without any sacrifice of efficiency. Beneficial results have been obtained principally along three lines: First, both the scientific work and the administrative and protective work have been put on a better basis through more careful organization; secondly, the supervisory force at Washington and in the six district offices has been materially cut down; thirdly, steps have been taken to gather better cost data, establish cost standards, and insure the maximum of result in all kinds of field work, through standardizing the work itself and obtaining a measure of its efficiency. The only important change made in the general form of organization was the creation of a new administrative unit to handle the work in connection with land purchases under the Weeks Act. It was found that the opportunity for improving the organization lay not in radical alterations of the administrative machinery, but in a tightening of the various parts and a better direction of effort. A renewed impetus has been given the scientific and cooperative work, on which largely depends the development of the practice of forestry on privately owned timberlands (carrying four-fifths of the total timber supply of the country) throughout the United States.

The organization of the work on the National Forests under six district offices, effected three years ago, had for its immediate purpose closer supervision of field activities and the elimination of

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