BUREAU Ol' CHEMISTRY. 259 



improt'ed larger scale methods for handling cane sirup have now be- 

 come possible through the organization of tlie coopt^rative cane sirup 

 associations and the operation of central blending plants. 



WORK OX SORGHUM SIRUP. 



The situation with respect to sorghum sirup is much the same as 

 that of cane sirup, with the exception that cooperative handling and 

 marketing of sorghum sirup have not yet reached so advanced a stage. 

 In the meantime it is desired during the fiscal year 1924 to discover 

 the cause of and find a remedy for " jellied " sorghum sirup. This 

 refers to a gelatinous consistency which sorghum sirup frequently 

 assumes and which causes considerable loss. An improved method of 

 claritication to secure a brilliantly clear sirup is greatly needed in 

 order to increase the marketing possibilities of sorghum sirup, and 

 work is planned to accomplish this. Some difficult}' is also experi- 

 enced from sugaring, and it is planned, when necessary, to apply 

 to sorghum sirup the invertase method originally devised by the 

 Bureau of Chemistry for treatment of cane sirup. 



USE OF INVERTASE IN PRODUCTS OTHER THAN CANE SIRUP. 



The invertase method was applied during the year to products 

 other than cane sirup. Application has been made for a public 

 patent for its use in a process for the manufacture of a mixture of 

 refiner's sirup and a partially inverted sucrose sirup. The process 

 has been used successfully on a large scale. The invertase process 

 has also been used in the manufacture of a high-density maple 

 sirup and of maple and cane sugar sirup mixtures. Application for 

 a public-service patent to cover this process has been made. 



A j)rocess was also worked out for preparing a soft cream center, 

 such as is used in chocolate creams and similar types of confectionery. 

 This achieves a result which has for a long time been desired by 

 the candy industr}-, since the process previously used was not satis- 

 factory. A public-service patent has been applied for to cover the 

 production of an improved maple cream by the use of invertase. 



DOMESTIC CANE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



In order to compete with cane sugar from the Tropics, the sugar- 

 cane planters of Louisiana are very greatly in need of improved 

 methods whereby better grades of sugar and molasses can be pro- 

 duced and manufactured more efficiently. Work to this end has been 

 <^arried on during the past 3'ear. Research work along these lines 

 is necessaiT because sugar cane does not fully mature in Louisiana, 

 so that, since the composition of the juice difi'ers from that of 

 cane grown in the Tropics, special methods of manufacture must be 

 used. The working out of more efficient methods would result in 

 an enormous increase in the value of sugar cane and would be of the 

 greatest constructive assistance to Louisiana cane planters. At the 

 present time the production of sufficiently high-grade molasses is 

 accomplished at the expense of too great a reduction in yield of sugar. 

 The production both of an adequate yield of high-quality sugar and 

 of molasses of acceptable grade is necessarj- in order to insure a 

 reasonable return for sugar cane. 



