48 SUGAR CONTENT OF MAIZE STALKS. 



time, the condition of the crop was unsatisfactory, owing to late- 

 ness of planting and insect attack, and consequently the result-- 

 might have been influenced thereby. That such was the case 

 seems certain from the results obtained during the season 

 1911-12, since the average sugar content of the cobbed plants 

 examined this year, which were in all cases well-grown and 

 healthy, was much higher than in those plants on which the grain 

 was allowed to mature. Whilst on this point I might say that 

 there is reason to believe that the sucrose content of the juice 

 obtained from the top and bottom portions of the stalk are not 

 the same, and that the juice of the top half contains a higher 

 percentage amount of sucrose than the bottom half. In other 

 words, that the sucrose content of the juice is not uniform from 

 the bottom to the top of the stalk. With a view to ascertaining 

 if such was the case, mature stalks from which the cobs had been 

 removed in the milky stage were roughly cut in half transversely, 

 and the juice expressed from the top and bottom portions ex 

 amined. In the three tests made, the difference between the 

 sucrose content of the two portions varied from 2 to 4 per cent, 

 in favour of the top half, although the perecentage amount of 

 juice expressed therefrom was much lower. This being the case 

 the results obtained last year are only to be regarded as applicable 

 to maize infested with stalk-borer. 



In conclusion, I would point out that, so far as I am aware , 

 it is not Mr. Stewart's contention that the maize plant can be 

 utilised more profitably for the production of cane sugar only, 

 but that the three products — cane sugar, cellulose and alcohol — 

 are producible simultaneously from the respective parts of th. 

 plant at a very much lower cost than from any other known 

 source. Whether this statement applies in South Africa has still 

 to be determined, and it was with a view to acquiring data upon 

 the "sugar phase " of the question that this investigation was 

 undertaken. That paper of good quality can he manufactured 

 from maize stalks has long been recognised. 



Flowering Plants of the Transvaal and 



SWAZILAND. — A check list of Transvaal plants, probably the 

 first of its kind, has recently been published by Mr. J. Burtt Davy 

 and Mrs. R. Tott-Leendertz. It comprises 157 families, 919 

 genera, and 3.264 species. Air. Burtt Davy defends the publica- 

 tion of a preliminary check list, in advance of a more accurate 

 catalogue, not alone because of the delay inherent in the pre- 

 paration of the latter, hut also on ground of its value to the 

 working biologist, its assistance in delimiting geographical dis- 

 tribution of species, and its worth in stimulating tne search for 

 additional species by amateurs and nature lovers, and so hasten- 

 ing the completion of a full catalogue, and finally of a flora. 



