INSPECTION AND ANALYSIS OF COTTON-SEED MEAL.

AN ACT TO REGULATE THE SALE AND INSPECTION OF COTTON-SEED MEAL. [Chapter 267, Laws 1905.]

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

SECTION 1. That chapter three hundred and thirty-nine (339) of the Public Laws of one thousand nine hundred and three (1903), entitled "An act to regulate the sale, inspection and branding of cotton-seed meal," be amended so as to read as follows:

SEC. 2. That all cotton-seed meal sold for use as fertilizer or feed shall be subject to an inspection tax of twenty cents per ton, and be subject to inspection, as other fertilizers or fertilizing materials, unless sold to manufacturers for use in manufacturing fertilizers.

SEC. 3. That all cotton-seed meal offered for sale, unless sold to manufacturers for use in manufacturing fertilizers, shall have plainly branded on the bag containing it, or on a tag attached thereto, the following data:

1. Cotton-seed meal with bran.

2. Weight of package.

3. Ammonia or nitrogen.

4. Name and address of manufacturer.

SEC. 4. That no person or persons, firm or corporation shall offer for sale any cotton-seed meal, except as provided in section three of this act, with a minimum per cent of ammonia of less than seven and one-half (72) per cent. Meal containing seven and one-half (72) per cent or more of ammonia is standard meal, and may be so branded. Meal containing eight (8) per cent or more of ammonia is high-grade meal, and may be so branded.

SEC. 5. That the State Board of Agriculture is empowered and directed to make such rules and regulations as are necessary to a proper carrying into effect the provisions of this act, and to provide for all such tags as manufacturers may demand, upon paying the tax therefor. Any person willfully violating any of the regulations made by the Board of Agriculture in connection with this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any person or persons, firm or corporation who shall sell or offer for sale any cotton-seed meal without having the proper tax tags attached thereto, or who shall use the required tags the second time to avoid the payment of the tonnage charge, and every person who shall remove any such meal, shall be liable to a penalty of ten dollars ($10) for each separate bag, barrel or other package sold or offered for sale or removed, to be recovered by any person who may sue for the same. SEC. 6. That any person or persons, firm or corporation who shall sell or offer for sale any cotton-seed meal contrary to the provisions above set forth shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and all cotton-seed meal so sold or offered for sale shall be subject to seizure, condemnation and sale by the Commissioner of Agriculture. Such seizure and sale shall be made under the direction of the Commissioner of Agriculture by an officer or agent of the department; the sale to be made at the courthouse door in the county in which the seizure is made, after thirty (30) days' advertisement in some newspaper published in

said county, or if no newspaper is published in said county, then by like advertisement in a newspaper published in the nearest county thereto having a newspaper. The advertisement shall state the grade of the meal, the quantity, why seized and offered for sale. The Commissioner, however, shall have the discretion to release the meal so seized and condemned upon compliance with the law as set forth above and the payment of all costs and expenses incurred by the department in any proceedings connected therewith. The net proceeds from such sale shall be placed in the general fund of the department and accounted for upon its books.

SEC. 7. Whenever the Commissioner of Agriculture shall be satisfied that any cotton-seed meal is essentially below the guaranteed analysis it shall be his duty to assess said deficiency against the manufacturer of the meal and require that the value of said deficiency be made good to all persons who, in the opinion of the Commissioner, have purchased the said meal; and the Commissioner may seize any meal belonging to said company, to the value of the deficiency, if the deficiency shall not be paid within thirty (30) days after notice to the company. If the Commissioner shall be satisfied that the deficiency in analysis was due to intention or fraud of the manufacturer, then the Commissioner shall assess and collect from the manufacturer twice the amount of the deficiency and pay over the same to parties who purchased said meal. That if any manufacturer shall resist such collection or payment the Commissioner shall immediately publish the analysis and the facts in THE BULLETIN and in such newspapers in the State as he may deem necessary.

SEC. 8. It shall be unlawful for any manufacturer to adulterate cotton-seed meal in the process of manufacture or otherwise.

SEC. 9. This act shall be in force from and after July first, nineteen hundred and five (1905).

In the General Assembly read three times, and ratified this the 17th day of February, A. D. 1905.

STARCHES USED IN COTTON MILLS, AND
THEIR ADULTERATION.

BY C. D. HARRIS, ASSISTANT STATE CHEMIST.

INTRODUCTION.

Early in June two samples of starch were sent to this Laboratory for examination. One sample was represented to be potato starch and the other corn starch.

The corn starch was found to be as represented, but very little potato starch was found in the sample represented to be potato starch. The product was mainly corn starch.

This led to the belief that perhaps a mixture of corn and potato starch was being sold for pure potato starch.

After some correspondence with the sender of these samples as to their price and use, it was decided to investigate the quality of the different starches offered for sale in this State.

With this object in view, the following circular-letter was sent out to about eighty weaving mills:

DEAR SIR-We desire to make an investigation of the kinds and quality of the different starches used in cotton mills in this State, for the benefit of the cotton mills.

We would appreciate it very much if you will send us a 4-pound sample of each kind of starch used in your mill.

Please send in a sealed package, stating on the package kind of starch, name and address of manufacturer, your own name and address, or mill name and location, price per pound, and as near as you can the number of pounds used annually of the different kinds of starches in your mill or mills.

The replies showed much interest and a willingness to co-operate in the investigation. In a short while many samples of starch were received.

The samples were examined both chemically and microscopically, the following objects being in view:

First. To determine whether or not the starch was the kind it was claimed to be.

Second. To determine if any mineral matter, such as talc, tremolite, ground soapstone, plaster of paris, or china clay, etc., had been added to give weight. Third. To determine if there existed any difference in the gluten content of the different kinds of starch and different samples of the same kind of starch. Fourth. To determine whether the samples were neutral, acid, or alkaline.

CONSUMPTION OF STARCH IN NORTH CAROLINA.

It is estimated that about 300 pounds of starch per loom are used in North Carolina annually.

There are 52,747 looms operated in the State; therefore, there are about 15.824,100 pounds of starch consumed by the cotton-weaving mills alone.

Reckoning the average price of all starch consumed at 21⁄2 cents per pound, it is found that about $400,000 is spent every year for starch in this State. The economical expenditure of so large a sum of money is worth considering.

FRAUDS PRACTICED.

The fact that it is impossible to tell the difference between different kinds of starches without the aid of the microscope has been taken advantage of by some manufacturers or dealers to deceive purchasers as to the actual composition of the product.

How long the fraud of substituting a cheaper form of starch for a more expensive one has been going on we have no way of knowing.

How much money consumers of starch have lost by this deception on the part of manufacturers or dealers cannot be estimated.

The fact that 66 per cent of the so-called potato starches examined were found to be mainly corn starch or cassava starch will give some idea of the magnitude of the sophistication.

This Department is willing and stands ready to be of any service it can to the textile manufacturers of the State to put an end to the adulteration of starches. It does not mean to interfere in any way with legitimate trade.

PROPERTIES OF STARCH.

Occurrence.-Starch is one of the most widely-diffused substances in the vegetable kingdom, occurring more or less abundantly in every plant that has up to the present time been examined.

It is found in different parts of the plants, especially in the seeds of all the cereals and in the tubers of the potato, canna, and cassava.