A Botanical and Economic Study. 185 



attended by a shedding of the hair, or even of the teeth of 

 man. Mules fed on it lose their hoofs, and fowls lay eggs 

 without shells. Its action is as powerful, and even more so, 

 than the ergot of rye. An infusion of maize leaves has been 

 used as an anti-febrile, but its action is unreliable. 1 



Sugar. — Experiments were conducted in 1879 to determine 

 the yield of sugar from the maize plant. The stems contain, 

 if taken at the proper time, a great quantity of saccharine 

 juice. The sugar is crystallizable cane-sugar, and is not the 

 worthless corn-sugar expressed from the plant. Professor 

 Collier, in a special report, states that the sugar obtained was 

 in a satisfactory condition in every respect, as shown by its 

 high polarization, 90° (cf. sorghum 94 ). 



Table XX. 

 Comparison of Maize and Sorgluun Sugar. 



Stalk. 



Corn Butt Ends 



Per Cent. Juice. Sr. Gr. Juice. Per t C ' E t,7 I( S b vrup 



J J TO J UICE. 



29.O4 IO53 I4.62 



Corn Tops *9-94 io 5° 13.46 



Sorghum Butts .... 4449 1060.5 '6.44 



Sorghum Tops .... 3862 1058 14.48 



Paper. — The moment must come sooner or later, when it 

 will be absolutely impossible for the paper-makers to keep pace 

 with the paper consumption, if they should not discover a sat- 

 isfactory substitute for rags. Experiments have been made 

 with the various vegetal fibres as a substitute for rags. Only 

 plants produced in large quantities can satisfy the demand. 

 Of the plants tried, maize seems to be the best adapted to the 

 purpose. In the last century two maize-straw paper manu- 

 factories were in existence in Italy, according to Dr. Johann 

 Christ Schaeffer's "Sammtliche Papierversuche " (Regens- 



1 Amer. Journ. Pharm., 3 ser. v, 313. 



