ried out by an intelligent farmer, was
pronounced to be the best suited for coloring butter. So far as my
experience goes, it was a sample of the best commercial excellence,
though I fear the mass of water present and the absence of preserving
substances will assist in its speedy decay. Were such an article easily
procured in the usual way of business, there would not be much to
complain of, but it must not be forgotten that it was got direct from
the manufacturers--a somewhat suggestive fact when the composition of
some other samples is taken into account. No. 5 emitted a disagreeable
odor during ignition. The soluble portion of the ash was mostly common
salt, and the insoluble contained three of sand--the highest amount
found, although most of the reds contained some. No. 6 was a
vile-looking thing, and when associated in one's mind with butter gave
rise to disagreeable reflections. It was wrapped in a paper saturated
with a strongly smelling linseed oil. When it was boiled in water and
broken up, hairs, among other things, were observed floating about. It
contained some iron. The first cake, No. 7, gave off during ignition an
agreeable odor resembling some of the finer tobaccos, and this is
characteristic more or less of all the cakes. The ash weighed 52 per
cent., the soluble part of which, 18.5, was mostly potassium carbonate,
with some chlorides and sulphates; the insoluble, mostly chalk with iron
and alumina. No. 8--highest priced of all--had in the mass an odor which
I can compare to nothing else than a well rotted farmyard manure. Twenty
parts of the ash were soluble and largely potassium carbonate, the
insoluble being iron for the most part. The mineral portions of Nos. 9
and 10 closely resemble No. 7.

On looking over the results, it is found that the red rolls contained
starchy matters in abundance (in No. 4 the starch was to a large extent
replaced by water), and an ash, mostly sodium chloride, introduced no
doubt to assist in its preservation as well as to increase the color of
the resin--a well known action of salt on vegetable reds. The cakes,
which are mostly used for cheese coloring, I believe, all appeared to
contain turmeric, for they gave a more or less distinct reaction with
the boric acid test, and all except No. 8 contained large quantities of
chalk. These results in reference to extractive, etc., reveal nothing
that has not been known before. Wynter Blyth, who gives the only
analyses of annatto