244 



THE AGRKTLTUUAL NEWS. 



AuiJUST 1. 1914. 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



THE SUGAR PALM. 



In India, Sfveral spucies of |)alni trees are ntilizefl as 

 a source of sugar, and, in tlie A'lricuhurul Ktn'sioY August L', 

 1913, a brief accfmiit was given of the exijeriniental wnrk that 

 had been conducted -with the Palmyra palm {Borassus fiabtlli- 

 ■formis), a tree which in Bengal is .systematically tapped for 

 the sugar which its sap contains. It was found, however, in 

 the course of the investigation, that the principal difficulty in 

 obtaining the sugar was the great losses that occur through 

 fermentation, Ijut that this change could be greatly retarded 

 by sponging the wounds with formaldehyde. 



Work of a very sinular nature has of late l.>een done in 

 the Philippines in connexion with the sugar ixdm known 

 botanically as Aren(/a sacc/iarifera. The res\dts oljtained 

 will be found fully described in a series of special articles in 

 the Philippine Ai/ricidtural Review for May 1914, from 

 which the following notes have been extracted. 



The sugar palm, mentioned in Sanskrit writings, is one 

 of the oldest economic species used by civilized man as 

 a source of sugar. The tree is not specially speaking a jungle 

 .species, and seems to prefer the banks of mountain streams, 

 margins of forests, and joartially open hillsides. The spread 

 of its leaves is not quite so great as with the coco-nut, but 

 the weight of the crown is much greater and the leaves are 

 much longer and heavier, whilst the trunk is usually 

 .shorter but often thicker than that of the coco-nut. 

 Unlike that of the coco-nut, the trunk is always vei'- 

 tical. It is stated in the article under review that 

 a hectare of land containing from 150 to 200 trees should 

 proditce, under modern cultural methods, sonic 20 or more 

 tons of marketable sugar per year over a period of ten to 

 fifteen years. This yield, considering the extremely low upkeep 

 expense, compares very well wdth that of the best sugar-cane. 

 As soon as the flowers in the bunch open, the stem is severed 

 at about the point where the first pedicels are given oft', 

 namely, 40 to 60 cm. from the trunk of the tree. Various 

 methods are employed locally to prevent fermentation of the 

 sap, but none appear to be as satisfactory as the methods 

 devised as the outcome of experiments conducted by the 

 Bureau of Agriculture. 



One very peculiar fact connected with the sap of this 

 tree in comparison with saps of other sacchariferous plants, is 

 its extremely low acidity. Samples when fresh show only 

 a trace of acid. AVhen ^owever untreated sap is exposed to 

 air, it very readily ferments. Hence the experiments con- 

 ducted with preser\atives and in connexion with clarificatiiju 

 for the purpose of determining the projier methods of handling 

 the sap in the manufacture of sugar. 



Formalin has answered well as a ])reser\ative as has also 

 milk of lime, lint in the clarification, the method which gave 

 the best result was heating the sap to boiling point and then the 

 addition of alcolinl which had the att'eet of precipitating albumi- 

 nous matter and pectin bodies which were very readily filtered 

 off. The filtrate was then treated with milk of lime,, and this 

 was then carbonated to 0'3 acidity, which caused another pre- 

 cipitate to fall innnediately, lea\ing a perfectly clear supernatent 

 liquor. 'A beautiful light, clear massecuite of 86° Brix. was 

 made from this sap which liegan to crystalize after three days, 

 and at the end of fi^•e days was filled with short clear crystals 

 and a very light-coloured molasses. This sugar was easily 

 drained of the thin molasses and washed to a high grade sugar 

 with very little clear water. The same method was then used 

 in making syrup and gave a light-coloured heavy liijuor of 

 56° Brix. with an excellent fiavour.' 



The secret of this method nf i-liuiticatinu lies in the 

 heating <jf the sap to boiling point or in treatment with alcohol, 

 either having the effect fif sterilizing the sap as well as precip- 

 itating inqjurities. Although the alcoholic treatment may be 

 dispensed with, this will j-et give excellent results whenever 

 practicalile to enqjloj- it. 



lieference is made in the 'publication under consideration 

 to the manufacture of alcohol and vinegar from the juice of 

 the tree. Each litre of sap co)itaining 14 per cent, sr.crose 

 gives 70 grammes of alisolute alcohol, prrivided there is 

 ]ierfect nxidation and no loss, or about 80 cc. of 20 per cent, 

 alcohol, namely, 28 litres for each tapping. 



For further details as to yields per tapping under 

 different conditions, etc., the reader is referred to the articles 

 already acknowledged; but in concluding this account of the 

 subject, the fact maybe enqjhasized that the sugar palm is also 

 of value as a source of fibre and starch. Ropes made from 

 the fibre of this tree are said to endiu'e alternate wetting and 

 drying or continued exposure to either fresh or salt water 

 lietter than any other rope material in the Murld. 



DETERMINATION OF VARIETIES OF 



SUGAR-CANE BY MEANS OF STOMATAL 



CHARACTERISTICS. 



ilr. Aguste de MUele, Director of Agriculture for the 

 He de la Reunion, puts forward an interesting discussion on the 

 above subject in tie Heme A<jiicole (May 1914). He begins 

 by drawing attention to the difficulties of distinguisliing 

 varieties of jjlants and animals in general, and then proceeds 

 to show that, in regard to varieties of sugar-cane, the con- 

 fusion that exists in many places is jiarticidarly great. As 

 an example, ^1. A'illele i^oints out that in Hawaii the Lahaina 

 cane is considered to be the same as the Louzier and as the 

 Bourl)on (which is known in He do la Reunion as 'la canne 

 jaune'). It seems that in Mauritius and He de la Reunion 

 there is circumstantial evidence to show that the varieties are 

 distinct, but in order to arrive at a definite conclusion, an 

 experiment has been started. C'uttings.of the Lahaina variety 

 have been obtained from Hawaii and these have been planted 

 adjacent to plots containing Bourlwn and Louzier, respectively. 

 In this way it is expected that, by comparisoh at the time of 

 harvest, it will be seen from the morphological characteristics 

 — from the general appearance of the cane^ — whether they 

 are in fact one or three varieties. 



Since the appearance, however, of a paper in the West 

 JniJian Bulletin (Vol. XIII, Xo. 4) describing oliservations 

 made by Mr. W. 1!. Dunlop of this Department on the 

 stomatal characteristics of West Indian varieties of sugar-cane, 

 the investigators in the He de la Reunion are hopeful that their 

 work of discrinunation may be shortened: that by examining 

 the leaves microscopicallj', it will be possilile to discover 

 ditt'erentiating anatomical features, particidarly in connexion 

 with the stcjmatfti, before the canes reach maturity. 



This .suggested application of ^fr. Dunlop's oliservations 

 is of intere.st. The three varieties under consideration are 

 not included in the list examined by him in the West 

 Indies, but it is significant that two \arieties which are 

 not very di.ssinular in general appearance may possess marked 

 ditt'erentiating characteristics as reganls their stomata. .Vs 

 an example, we.^nay take the caseof 1>. 147 and D. 116. B(jth 

 these canes germinate indifferently; botli are fairly stout and 

 zig-zag in haljit: both are greenish yellow in colour, and both 

 have fairly large dark-green leaves, pendulous in habit. But 

 the veins in the leaves of D.116 are much wider apart and 



