Sir William pointed out that the word "impure" was often 

 ■wrongly applied to microbic water. Quoting a French authority, he 

 said thai water that contains only ten microbes in a cubic centimetre 

 was classed as "exceedingly pure." and with no1 more than 10,000 

 microbes as " pure." 



Sir Edward Fry : Those microbes might all be friends? 



Sir "William : Yes. All friendly microbes. Most of them are 

 policemen. 



578. -LIMB FLOWER ON SPINE. 



The following paragraph is taken from the Agricultural News of 

 December 5th, 190o. It is recorded here for local information : — 



" Mr. J. II. Hart. Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens, 

 Trinidad, has forwarded a botanical curiosity in the form of a flower 

 developed on the spine of the lime plant ( Citrus medica var. acida). 

 Mr. Hart informs us that this occurred on the growth made after 

 budding on a Seville orange stock. On the specimen sent there are a 

 large number of spines, but only one has a flower, and that one 

 is nearly twice the normal length." 



579. -DISAPPEARANCE OF REDUCING SUGAR IN 



SUGAR CANE. 



By H. W. Wiley, Washington. U.S.A. 



(International Sugar Journal.) 



i: The occurrence of reducing sugar in sugar canes and sorghums 

 has important relations to the metabolism of the plants. Presumably 

 the carbohydrate which is finally formed in chlorophyl cells of these 

 plants is some variety of starch, probably a soluble variety, since 

 starch granules as such would find obstructions to circulation in the 

 return currents from the leaves to the body of the plant. During 

 the early stages of growth it has been shown by repeated analysis 

 that the proportion of reducing sugar to sucrose in the juices of the 

 sugar cane is very high. In Louisiana where the canes are harvested 

 necessarily before, the growth is complete, the average quantity of 

 reducing sugars in the juice is one per cent, or more. In the 

 tropics at the time of harvest the percentage' of reducing sugars is 

 very much less, usually less than one-half of one per cent. These 

 facts show beyond doubt that the highest relative value of reducing 

 3Ugar to sucrose is in the earlier stages of growth and the lowest pro- 

 portion in the matured stages. Theoretically, then we might expeel 

 that at a certain period representing the complete and perfect 

 maturity of the plant the reducing sugar would disappear. The 

 further phenomenon, however, lias also been observed, namely when 

 the reducing sugar is reduced to a minimum on approaching maturity 

 any deterioration in the plant due to long standing, over ripeness, 

 injury from frosts or otherwise, tends to reverse the order observed 

 during the growing period, and to increase the percentage of reducing 



