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Extensive analytical data on cottonseed hull bran are presented above. It is hoped that a better understanding of the constituents composing cottonseed hull bran thus obtained will lead to finding a more profitable outlet for this by-product of the cottonseed oil mills. The furfural yield is exceptionally high. Xylose, plus other pentoses, amounting to about 40%, and a crude cellulose content of 51% all indicate that cottonseed hull bran is a more valuable product than was heretofore thought to be the case.

Work has been reported on the development of a substitute for palm oil, which is used to the extent of about 40 million pounds annually in the production of tin and terne plate, and in the cold reduction process for the manufacture of strip steel. This investigation included an examination of the chemical and physical properties of virgin and spent palm oils, especially with respect to the effect of these properties on the action of these oils in the tin bath.

Samples of completely refined peanut oil, semirefined pecan oil, imported edible grade olive oil and crude safflower seed oil have been examined for composition, spectral transmittance and other properties. Compositions were determined by means of the modified Bertram oxidation method and application of the iodine-thiocyanogen number technique.

Analyses of cotton burs produced in the snapping or sledding methods of harvesting cotton show that they do not possess a high feeding value for cattle without some form of hydrolytic treatment, such as has been proposed for increasing the digestibility of cottonseed hulls. They have no value as a source of furfural. The pentosan content is quite low, but they possess a content of cellulose which might possibly make them valuable as a source of pulp for paper, rayon, etc. That large quantities of inorganic fertilizer constituents are removed from the soil is evident from the ash analysis. This deficiency should be repaired either by application of artificial fertilizer or by returning the burs to the soil. The latter may be done either in the form of the ash, the whole burs, or preferably, by the artificially decomposed burs.

Eighty-four samples of soybean oils, representing various types of processing and different refining procedures, have been examined spectrophotometrically and the spectral-transmissive curves for 35 of them are reproduced in this communication. The spectral-transmissive properties of these oils have been discussed with particular reference to the effect which variations in processing have on these properties. In the light of the results obtained in these studies it is apparent that: (1) The spectral-transmissive properties of soybean oils are influenced by the method used in removing the oil from the bean as well as by subsequent processing procedures; (2) the Lovibond color readings give at best only approximate information concerning the spectral color of an oil; and (3) the carotenoids are removed during refining operations, the greatest loss usually occurring during the deodorizing treatment. Chlorophyll, which is present in various concentrations in the crude oil, is completely absent from the finished oil so far as spectrophotometric evidence is concerned.

Oil from Dunfield soybeans (Columbia, Mo., 1936) having a very low iodine value, has been examined. Comparison of the constants of this abnormal oil with normal soybean oils indicates no significant differences except in iodine value and refractive index. Based on the calculated composition of the unsaturated acids, the abnormal oil appears to contain a higher percentage of oleic acid, and a lower percentage of linoleic and linolenic acids, than do normal oils. The lowered iodine value does not appear to be correlated with any increase in the stability of the hydrogenated product. The abnormality is attributed to an accumulation of unfavorable varietal, climatic, and pedological factors.