863 



are compared with these little or no gains are perceptible. * * * It may he posi- 

 tively assumed that (1) these soils require uitio<>eu ; (2) when properly combined 

 with mineral manures nitrogen gives its best results; (3) while all forms have given 

 increased yields, sulphate of ammonia and cotton-seed meal have given the largest. 



Striped vs. pmyle cane (pp. 394-400). 



To decide this question the station has this year made twelve duplicate experi- 

 ments with each of the 2 varieties growing side by side. Four of each were unfer- 

 tilized and eight were fertilized. They were also grown in rows of ditil'ercut widths. 

 * * * The striped cane was worked up December 9 and the purple December 11, 

 both having been previously killed by the frost of November 30, and left standing 

 until used. Appearances in the field and work in the sugarhouse indicated no mate- 

 rial injury from the frost. They were worked up separately and careful notes made 

 during the entire process, from diffusion juice to sugar. No difference was discov- 

 ered until reaching the centrifugal. They were cooked in the jian to al)out thcsame 

 density, and yet on drying the striped showed marked superiority, both in time 

 required and in sugar obtained. The purple gave a masse cuite which was far more 

 difficult to centrifugal, and ultimately a lower grade sugar. This may have been 

 due to some accidental imperfection of cooking, which sometimes occurs even with 

 the best sugar makers, and not to any inherent property of the juice. Yet an inspec- 

 ti(m of our tables shows uniformly higlier quantities of " solids-uot-sugar " in the 

 purple than in the striped. * * * It would seem from present investigation that 

 the striped possessed more good qualities for southern Louisiana than the purple. 



Composition of sugar cane at various stages of grotcth (pp. 400-404). — 

 Analyses with reference to food constituents are given of the canes at 

 time of planting; of the seed cane, young cane, and roots collected 

 June 2 and July 14; and of the cane sampled September 2>, when it 

 had attained nearly its full growth, together with analyses of the ash of 

 a sample collected September 25. The conclusions drawn by the author 

 from the results are that — 



(1) The mother cane supplies the young sprouts with albuminoids, fat, carbohy- 

 drates and (perhaps) ash in the earliest stages of its growth, and there arrives a time, 

 perhaps as soon as the root system of the young plant is well developed, when these 

 sprouts cease to draw on the mother cane for nourishment, and the latter remains 

 thereafter nearly constant, except from decay. 



(2) The composition of the cane plant varies greatly during growth. While young 

 the percentages of ash, albuminoids, and fat are the greatest, decreasing until matu- 

 rity, when they become least. The fiber and carbohydrates are small in the young 

 plant, increasing with growth and reaching maxima at maturity. 



One ton of cane delivered at the mill would remove from the soil 9.4 pounds of 

 albumin-oids or 1..5 pounds nitrogen, and 12.2 pounds of ash or mineral matter. Tliis 

 mineral matter would contain 2.17 i>ounds potash, 1.48 pounds phosphoric acid, and 

 0.8 pound lime. 



Maryland Station, Special Bulletin F, January, 1892 (pp. 15). 



The agricultural outlook for Maryland, E. Stake. — An 

 address delivered before the Maryland State Farmers' Association by 

 its president and iniblished by the station at the request of the Associ- 

 ation. 



