STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 161 



in the case of a morbid season the deposition on the surface is 

 unduly large, thus robbing the plant of a portion of that matter 

 which should have been deposited in the form of sugar in the 

 vessels of the plant. Its appearance on the surface is a proof 

 of morbid action showing a want of vitality in the plant. 



Fourthly — The season of grinding the sugar cane often comes 

 at a period when the secretions of the plant are too immature or 

 diseased to granulate, and are fit only for molasses. This fact is 

 parallel with the occasional condition of some fruits, when, in 

 consequence of cold, wet summers, the fruit in autumn exhibits 

 not secretions of sugar, but of starch and acids. (See Silliman's 

 Chemistry, edition of 1850, section No. 783.) 



Fifthly — What strengthens these impressions of the inappro- 

 priateness of the climate of Louisiana for the most successful 

 culture of the sugar cane, is the fact that its sugars are found 

 much less fitted for the purpose of the refiner than the sugars 

 made in the tropical regions. The sugar in the former case 

 appears as though made of juices imperfectly matured at the very 

 point of fermentation. 



The explanation of this is most obvious. Sugar cane, besides 

 the elements of sugar, which are themselves fermentable when 

 in an imperfect state of elaboration, contains a considerable 

 quantity of gluten. (See Johnstone's chemistry of common life, 

 vol. 1st, p. 206, edition of New-York, 1855.) In the imperfect 

 health of the plant these glutinous substances run quickly into 

 a state of putrefactive fermentation. Even when the cane is 

 healthful they jeopardize the safety of the expressed juice, un- 

 less speedily boiled. So similarly, in the spring of the year the 

 last drawn sap of the sugar maple is incapable of granulation 

 into sugar, and is fit only for molasses. 



Sixthly — I have often noticed that imported tropical plants 

 grow with marked vigor the first year, and then gradually 

 decline, if the period of their maturity is inconsistent with the 

 length of our seasons. In such cases the plant runs through the 

 period of its declension in from two to five years. See the illus- 

 tration in the case of the potato previously recorded. 



[Ag. Trans.] K 



