ALCOHOLIZATION. 299 
that of the sugar cane, the planters of the south can, with profit, 
compete against the sugars from the beets and from the colonies. 
Undertakings of this sort would give very large profits, doubtless. 
Not only is the sugar sorgho more rich than the beet, but it ripens 
much more rapidly than the sugar cane. The agreeable use that can 
be made of the molasses and the pulps of this plant, place it, in this 
regard, in a position unequaled by others. 
What we have said concerning the erection of manufactories of 
sugar in the south of France for working up the crops of sugar sorgho, 
should be considered more as a hope than as a prophecy to be immedi- 
ately realized. In these unenlightened districts, ingenious ideas applied 
to agriculture are so scarce that we have but small hope of a speedy 
realization of enterprises such as these. = scan eagle 
EXTRACTION OF THE JUICE OF THE MAIZE AND OF THE SUGAR SORGHO. 
To extract juice of sugar bearing plants, there is, independent of the 
pressure of which we have already spoken, an expeditious process. 
This is maceration. This system has been applied with success in the 
manufacture from the beet. It has been found that those treated thus 
are purer, ferment better, and suffer less change than when they are 
obtained by prolonged pressure. Independent of regularity, which is 
the distinct property of maceration, the treatment of beets by this 
method is an excellent one in more ways than one. On the one hand, 
the acidulated liquid boiling increases the sugar in the beets, sacchari- 
fying them. On the other hand, it raises the temperature of the juice, 
and disposes them to undergo a good fermentation. Maceration, then, 
is particularly advantageous and applicable to the beet distilleries, 
nearly all of which are in operation at the North, and at work on the 
coldest days of the year. But it is entirely different with the maize 
and the sorgho, as to distillation. Being accomplished at the South, 
and oftentimes with the greatest heat of weather, the warming of the 
juice is not necessary, any more than saccharification. The sugar 
being entirely formed in these plants, maceration in cold water would 
have the effect of weakening these juices. It is just upon these points 
of consideration that the press is preferable for it, because they yield 
then the sweetest and densest juices. In this condition they present 
