1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



697 



43.55 



49.08 

 6.77 



43.55 



56.45 



Carbon, with a small quantity ol" saline 



and earthly matter 

 Oxygen . _ - - 



Hydrogen - - - - 



Or, 

 Carbon _ - - - 



Oxygen and hydrogen in the propor- 

 tions necessary tolorm water 

 Supposing this estimation correct, starch may 

 be conceived to be constituted by 15 proportions o( 

 carbon, 13 of oxygen, and 20 of hydrogen. 



Starch forms a" principal part of a number ofes- 

 culent vegetable substances. Sowans, cassava, 

 salop, sago, all of them owe their nutritive powers 

 principally to the starch they contain. | 



Starch has been found in the following plants: 

 Burdock, (Arctium Lappa,) Deadly Night- 

 shade (j/tropa BcUadona,) Bistort ( Polys;nnuin 

 Jiistoria,) White Bryony (Bryonia alba,) Mea- 

 dow Safiron ( Colchicum autumnale,) Dropwort 

 (SpircBU Filipendula,) Buttercup (Ranunculus 

 bidbosuft,) F\g\voTt(Scrophu2aria nodosa,) Dwarf 

 Elder (Sambucus ebulus,) Common Elder (Sam- 

 bucus Nigra,) Foolstones ( Orchis Mario, ) Al- 

 exanders ( Impcratoria Ostruihium, ") Henbane 

 (^ Ilyoscyainus niger,) Broad-leaved Dock ( i?w- 

 mex obtusifolius, ) Sharp-pointed Dock ( Riimex 

 acutus, ) Water Dock ( Rumex aquaticus,) Wake 

 Robin ( Arum maculuium, ) Salep ( Orchis mas- 

 cula, ) Flower de Luce or Water-flag ( Iris 

 Pseudacnrus, ) Stinking Gladwyn ( Iris fodidis- 

 sima, ) Earthnut ( Biriium Bulbocasianum. ) 



3. Sugar in its purest state is prepared from the 

 expressed juice of the Saccharum officinarum, or 

 sugar-cane : the acid in this juice is neutralized by 

 lime, and the sugar is crystallized by the evapora- 

 tion of the aqueous parts of the juice, and slow 

 cooling: it is rendered white by the gradual filtra- 

 tion of" water through it. In the common process 

 of manufacture, the whitenins or refining of sugar 

 is only effected in a great length of time ; the water j 

 being gradually suffered to percolate through a 

 stratum of clay above the sugar. As the color- 

 ing matter of sugar is soluble in a saturated solu- 

 tion of sugar, or syrup, it appears that refining 

 may be much more rapidly and economically per- 

 formed by the action of syrup on colored sugar.* 

 The sensible properties of^ sugar are well known. 

 Its specific gravity according to Fahrenheit is 

 about 1.6. It is soluble in its own weight of wa- 

 ter at 50° ; it is likewise soluble in alcohol, but in 

 smaller proportions. 



Lavoisier concluded from his experiments, that 

 sugar consists in 100 parts, of 

 28 carbon, 



8 hydrogen, 

 64 oxygen. 

 Dr. Thompson considers 100 parts of sugar as 

 composed of 27.5 carbon, 



7.8 hydrogen, 

 64.7 oxygen. 



According to the recent experiments of Gay 

 fiussac and Thenard, sugar consists of 42.47 of 

 carbon, and 57.53 of water or its elements. 



Lavoisier's and Dr. Thompson's analyses agree 

 very nearly with the proportions of 



3 of carbon, 



4 of oxyixcn, 

 and 8 of hydrogen. 



Gay Lu?sac's and Thenard's estimation gives 

 the same elements as in gum ; 11 of carbon, 10 

 of oxygen, 20 of hydrogen. 



It appears from the experiments of Proust, 

 Achard, Goettling, and Parmentier, that there are 

 many different species of sugar ready formed in 

 the vegetable kingdom. The sugar of the Ame- 

 rican maple, Acer saccharivvm, is precisely the 

 same as that of the cane. This sugar is used by 

 the North American larmers, who procure it by a 

 kind of domestic manufacture. The trunk of the 

 tree is bored early in spring, to the depth of about 

 two inches ; a wooden spotit is introduced into the 

 hole ; the juice flows for about five or six weeks. 

 A common-sized tree, that is, a tree from two to 

 three feet in diameter, will yield about 200 pints 

 of sap, and every 40 pints of sap afford about a 

 pound of sugar. The sap is neutralized by hme, 

 and deposits crystals of sugar by evaporation. 



Thssugar of grapes, has been lately employed 

 in France as a substitute for colonial sugar. It is 

 procured from the juice of ripe grapes by evapo- 

 ration and the action of pot-ashes ; it is less sweet 

 than common suirar, and its taste is peculiar: it 

 produces a sensation of cold while dissolving in the 

 mouth ; and, it is probable, contains a larger por- 

 tion of water, or its elements. 



The roots of the beet {Beta vulgaris and cicla) 

 afford sugar, by boiling, and the evaporation of the 

 extract: it crystallizes, and does not difler in its 

 properties from the sugar of the cane in France. 

 Manna, a substance which exudes ii-om various 

 trees, particularly from the Fraxinus Ormis, a 

 species of ash, which grows abundantly in Sicily 

 and Calabria, may be regarded as a variety of su- 

 gar verv analogous to the sugar of grapes.* A 

 substance analogous to manna has been extracted 

 by Fourcroy and Vauquelin from the juice of the 

 common onion ( Allium Cepa. ) 



Besides the crystallized and solid sugars, there 

 appears to be a sugar which cannot be separated 

 from water, and which exists only in a fluid form ; 

 it constitutes a principal part of melasses or trea- 

 cle ; and it is found in a variety of fruits : it is more 

 soluble in alcohol than solid sugar. 



The simplest mode of detecting sugar is that re- 

 commended by Margraaf. The vegetable is to 

 be boiled in a small quantity of alcohol ; solid su- 

 gar, if any exist, will separate during the cooling 

 of the solution. 



Sugar has been extracted from the following 

 vegetable substances : — 



* A French s;entleman lately in this country stated 

 to the West India planters, that he was in possession 

 of a very expeditious and economical method of puri- 

 fyrnp; and refining sugar, which he was willing to com- 

 municate to them for a very great pecuniarj' coinpen- 

 sation. His terms were too high to be acceded to. 

 Conversing on the subject with Sir Joseph Banks, I 

 mentioned to him that I thought it probable that raw 

 sugar might be easily purified by passing syrup through 



it; which would dissolve the coloring matter. The 

 same idea seems to have occurred about the same time, 

 or before, to the late Edward Howard, Esq., who 

 proved its efficacy experimentally, and some time be- 

 fore his death took out a patent for various improve- 

 ments in the manufacture of sugar. 



* The substance to which manna owes its sweetness 

 has recently been considered distinct, and called man- 

 nite. It is said not to ferment when leaven is added to 

 its solution in water; thus differing from all the varie- 

 ties of sugar. — J. D. 



