220 PLANT AND ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 



juices from unstripped cane are inferior to mill juice in all of 

 these respects. 



"As a result of these experiments, it was claimed that 

 leaves, leaf-sheaths, and seed were the chief obstacles to the 

 introduction of diffusion. This claim was admitted by Mr. 

 Potts, and Mr. Hughes was directed to construct his strip- 

 ping machine." 1 



"A further fact, which is illustrated by the analyses of the 

 diffusion juices from uninjured canes is, that the diminished 

 purity is produced solely by the extraction of gum and chloro- 

 phyll, chiefly from the blades and sheaths, and that this 

 injury can be avoided by a proper cleaning of the canes." 2 



From tables of comparative analyses, showing the average 

 composition for each variety of sorghum in every stage of its 

 growth, it is seen that "in the earlier stages in the growth of 

 each plant, the amount of crystallizable sugar is small, but 

 as the plants mature, the sucrose rapidly increases, until it 

 equals from twelve to sixteen per cent, of juice. The solids, 

 not sugar, in the juice also increase from the first, but very 

 much less rapidly than does the crystallizable sugar; at the 

 same time, the glucose steadily diminishes." 3 



The habits of some varieties of sorghum and their demands 

 upon climate and soil are almost identical with those of the 

 several varieties of maize, and yet there appears to be, in cer- 

 tain respects, marked differences. The sorghums, as a class, 

 are capable of sustaining a period of drought which would prove 

 fatal to maize. 4 



The root system of sorghum renders it peculiarly adapted 

 to growing upon poorer lands than other kinds of crops, es- 

 pecially if the subsoil is sufficiently rich in nutritive matter to 

 give to the plant its needed food supply. 



The chemical analyses of the sorghum may be made from 

 the expressed juice or directly from the cane. Numerous 

 investigations have been conducted in both ways. 



1 Bui. XLI, 1887, p. 4. 2 Bui. 14, p. 40. 



8 Spec. Rep. No. 33, Dept. of Agr., 1881, p. n. 



4 Investigation of Sorghum as a Sugar-producing Plant, Dept. of Agr. 

 Peter Collier. 



