EXPEEIMESTS EN' SUGAK ^lAXUFACTUEE, ETC. 535 



Manufacture of Sugar frovi Sorghum, 



From the numerous resul s given in Dr. Collier's reports, it is obvious that 

 the method of manufacture of syrup was such that nearly all of the sujiar pres- 

 ent in the juices of the sorghura or maize could be secured in the sjrup without 

 inversion. This point is one of especial importance, practically, and, since the 

 results diflfer so widely from those of other esperimeLters, they are entitled to 

 careful consideration. 



A single experiment of Dr. Goessmann gave, from a juice containing S.16 

 per cent sucrose and 3 91 per cent glucose, a syrup containing 37.-18 per cent 

 sucrose and 37.87 glucose, or as follows: 



Juice: Percent 



Sucrose 69 S3 



Glucose 30 67 



Syrup: 



Sucrose 47 W 



Glucose 1 a2.u5 



From which it appears that, supposing there was no loss of glucose in the 

 operation of making the syrup. 21.39 per cent of the sucrose was converted 

 into glucose; or, in other words, 30 tjo per cent of the sucrose in the juice was 

 inverted. If such a result was to follow invariably, no one, we think, wou'.d 

 hesitate to accept the following conclusion, drawn by Dr. Goesmann from the 

 above experiment, viz.: 



In sight of these facts, it will be quite generally conceded that the sugar production 

 from syrup like the above must remain a mere incidental feature in the Amber-Cane 

 industry in our section of the country. 



In 1S79, the average of 24 experiments with the juices of several varieties of 

 sorghum and maize, made ai the Department of Agriculture ^see Annual Re- 

 port, 1879, p. 53), showed that the relative loss of sucrose in the syrup was only 

 5.35 per cent of that present in the juice, instead of being, as Dr. Goessmann 

 found, 30.85 per cent. 



But of far greater importance is the fact brought out in an average of 40 experi- 

 ments, including all made, that there was an actual loss of only 12 5 per cent 

 of the cane sugar; i. e.. there was secured as sugar in the svrup S7.5 per cent 

 of all the sugar oresent in the juice: thus showing that even the total less by 

 defecation, by skimming, and by inversion, was no more than that usual with 

 sugar-cane juice, for it is estimated that only about 80 per cent of the cane su- 

 gar present in the tropical juices is recovered in the sugar and molasses, a little 

 over 20 per cent being lost in the manufacture. 



In Ure's Dictionary, Appleton's edition, 1865, vol. 11, p. T58, the writer upon 

 sugar says as follows: 



The average quantity of grained sugar obtained from cane jaice in our colonial planta- 

 tions* is probably not more than one-third of the quantity of crystalline sugar in the 

 juice which they t)oil. 



Syrups and Sugar from the new Chinese Sorghums. 

 Although the new varieties of sorghum from China were far inferior 



* British possessioas. 



