ERRORS—COMPOSITION OF CANE JUICE. 95 
almost solely the basis upon which their efficiency is alleged 
to rest in making syrup by the ordinary mode; but any one 
that has made himself acquainted with the nature of 
sorghum juice is well aware that boiling and skimming, 
unassisted by other means, cannot be relied upon to pro- 
duce sugar. The fact that sugar has, in some few in- 
stances, been produced by such means, is no disproof of 
this assertion; for sometimes samples of cane may be 
selected, the juice in the lower joints of which is almost a 
pure solution of sugar, and consequently it needs no defeca- 
tion; but such samples of cane are very rare, and the in- 
stances in which sugar has been produced even from them 
by the use simply of ‘‘ pan and skimmer” are still more so. 
I have alluded to these particulars here for the reason that 
I believe them to embrace the most prominent errors in 
theory and practice now in vogue among planters of the 
Northern cane; and in order that the established facts 
upon which success in the production of sugar from sor- 
ghum will be found to be based, may not be confounded 
with them or misunderstood. 
Ripe sorghum juice, as it flows from the mill, is an im- 
pure solution of cane sugar. It commonly contains a small 
proportion of grape or fruit sugar also. Other substances 
also, in less quantity, are either dissolved or mechanically 
suspended in the liquid. The chief of these are chloro- 
phyll (or the green coloring matter), starch, dextrine (the 
gummy matter), vegetable tissue, pectine or vegetable 
jelly, vegetable albumen, gluten, and casein (the last three 
containing nitrogen), acids, salts, and extractive matter. 
Other modifications of these are found in syrup, and are 
secondary products, and are not contained in the raw juice. 
Liquid sugar is an example. It is a degraded form of cane 
sugar, perfectly uncrystallizable, and is produced by the 
action of heat and imperfect processes of manufacture. 
