THE NITROGEN-FREE EXTRACT OF FEEDING STUFFS. 643 



Cane s)((i((r a )>d other (1 i- and tri-sacrJuo-ids — (1) Cone sugar {Ci2B.220n) is 

 very common in nature, and ai)])eai's to be found in larger or smaller 

 quantities almost wlierever it is looked for in vegetable substances. 

 It occurs in leaves of trees, grass, hay, beet tops; in the blossoms of 

 clover and other plants; in the stalks of cereals, nniize, sorghum, and 

 especially sugar cane; and in the trunks of some trees, as the maple, 

 birch, and various palms. It is also a (;oustituent of the seeds of 

 various cereals, maize, soja bean, and the cocoa i)alm, and of unts. It 

 occurs in sweet fruits, accompanied by dextrose and levulose, the 

 amount apparently increasing as the acid in the fruit decreases. Figs, 

 dates, bananas, and melons, for instance, contain considerable quanti- 

 ties of cane sugar. It is found in roots and tubers, a notable exami)le 

 being the sugar beet, but it is also found in unripe and frozen potatoes, 

 in sweet potatoes, cassava tubers, etc. 



(2) Treltalosc (or mycose, 0i2H2.)Oii+2H2O) is isolated from trehala 

 manna in large quantities. It is also present in various fungi and in 

 ergot. 



(3) Rajfinose (0i8H32Oifi-+-5H2O) occurs to the extent of about ;> per 

 cent in cotton seed, also in smaller amount in the sugar beet, the 

 s^n'outs of germinated wheat, and perhaps elsewhere. 



(4) Stachyose (CjsH-.Oie— 3H2O) is a constituent of the tubers of 

 Stack ya t n her if era. 



Some other substances belonging to this group are, for instance, gen- 

 tianose in the gentian root, lactosin in Silene species, and maltose, 

 which possibly occurs with starch in the cereals, rice, etc. 



rolysaecharids derived^ from hexoses and hence called he.rosans. — (1) 

 Starch, i?(r,;ITi(iO.-,),' freiiuently comprises the larger part of the nitrogen- 

 free extract. It occurs in the cereals in large quantities. For instance, 

 maize, barley, wheat, and rye contain from CA) to 70 per cent; oats 

 nearly 55 per cent; and rice nearly 75 per cent of starch. Peas and 

 beans contain about 50 per cent. The potato has from 17 to 24 per 

 cent of starch, and many other fleshy tubers and roots have a large 

 starch content. Large quantities of starch are also stored up in the 

 pith of certain trees, as the sago palm. Starch occurs in small <iuanti- 

 ties nearly everywhere in the vegetable kingdom, and this general 

 occurrence is easily understood, since starch is ])rodnccd in the lea^TS 

 (probably from the glucose first formed) and from these is trans] )orted 

 to the reserve cells in the seeds, roots, etc. 



(2) (iliicofte-yicldiufj siihstances accomj^anylng starch, as glycogen, dex- 

 trin, dextran, etc. Many fungi, glutinous rice from Japan, etc., con- 

 tain gummy amorphous substances, which when heated with dilute 

 acid invert to dextrose, and which are closely allied to the dextrin 

 obtained from starch. *The substances known as paradextran, pachy- 

 mose, etc., belong- with this group of bodies. 



1 See second footnote on opposite piijj^c. 



- The value of " ii " is stated by dit't'erent autliors at all the way from 4 to 200. 



