SACCHARUM, 721 



palm wine; or it may be converted iuto vinegar. The spirit distilled 

 from toddy is Arrack 



Of the sugar-yielding palms of Asia, Phcenix silvestris Roxb., which 

 IS supposed to be the wild form of the date palm, is one of the more 

 important. The coco-nut palm, Gocos nucifem L.; the magnificent 

 Palmyra palm, Bo7nssm JlabeUiformis L ; and the Bastard Sago, Caryota 

 urens L,, also furnish important quantities of sugar. In the Indian 

 Archipelago, sugar is obtained from the sap of Arenga saccharifera 

 Mart., which grows there in abundance as well as in the Philippines 

 and the Indo-Chinese countries. It is also got from Nipa fndkaiis 

 Thunb., a tree of the low coast regions, extensively cultivated in Tavoy. 



De Vry^ has advocated the manufacture of sugar from the palm as 

 the most philosophical, seeing that its juice is a nearly pure aqueous 

 solution of sugar : that as no minei-al constituents are removed from the 

 'Soil in this juice, the costly manuring, as well as the laborious and 

 destructive processes required to eliminate the juice from such plants 

 as the sugar cane and beet root, are avoided. And finally, that palms 

 are perennial, and can many of them be cultivated on a soil unsuitable 

 for any cereal 



Maple— In America, considei-aWe quantities of sugar identical ^yith 



that of the cane are obtained in the woods of the Northern CTnited 



States and of Canada, by evaporating the juice of maples. The species 



chiefly employed are Acer saccharinuin ^ngenh., the Common Sugar 



Maple, and its variety (var. nigrmn) the Black Sugar Maple. A. Penn- 



^ylvanimm L., A. Negnndo L. {Neg%mido aceroides Moench.) and^. 



dasycarpiim Ehrh. are also used ; the sap of the last is said to be the 



feast saccharine. . 



As the juice of these trees yields not more than about 2 per cent ot 



sugar, it requires for its solidification a large expenditure ot tuel. me 



iiiauufacture of maple sugar can therefore be advantageously carnea on 



only in countries remote from markets whence ordinary sugar can De 



procured, or in regions where fuel is extremely P^^^^l^^^v ^^.^""^"^ 



America it flourishes only between iO° and 43' N. lat ^\e are not 



aware of any estimate of the total production of maple sugar. Xfte 



Census of Pennsylvania of 1870 gave the following figures as referring 



to Its manufacture in that State :— 



2,32l'^2'51b. 2,76T9651b. l,545',ll7IKj 



Sorghum- Another plant of the same order ^^ ^^^^^^^^ 

 forghum saccharatum Pers. {Holms saccharatus L.) a ^^^^^Jf^ hn^^^^^^ 

 China,^ which has of late been much tried as a ^^^S^^J^^^^^^^^^^^ 

 fcoth in Europe and North America; yet ^^it^out any £eat buc^^^^^ 

 tt>^ purification of the sugar is accomplished wih P^f ^^^^.^ ^^^^^^^ 

 As in the sugar cane, there\re in sorghum cryst^^^^^^^^e an^^^^^^^ 

 J^^^We sugars, the former being at its maximum %"™\^^^^^^^^^ 

 reaches maturity. The importance of the plant however is ^a^id } 

 increasing on account of the value of its leaves and gram as Jooa 



dp M ..^"*^^*^ i'^to Europe in 1850, by M. 188. 

 ^^ontigny, French Consul at Shanghai. 



2z 



