222 PLANT AND ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 



from the fields, or from protected parts of piles of cane 

 kept for a day, showed a remarkably high percentage of 

 sugar. 



On September 30th, 1 a sample of cane from the carrier 

 showed : 



Sucrose I2 -39 per cent. 



Glucose 3.76 " 



Total solids 17.80 " 



Available sugar 6.98 " 



Such cane would yield 140 Ibs. of sugar per ton. 



An October cane gave an average of 176.6 Ibs. of sugar 

 per ton. Dozens of samples of cane during the season would 

 have given over 100 Ibs. of sugar per ton. When it is remem- 

 bered that sorghum cane can be grown and delivered at the 

 factory for $2.00 a ton, the importance of these figures cannot 

 be overestimated. If sorghum can be produced which will con- 

 tain 5 per cent, of available sugar from the whole crop, the 

 future of the industry is a most promising one. 



Until the variations of the percentage of sucrose in the juice 

 can be controlled, sorghum cannot be considered a profitable 

 crop for sugar production. 



The tendency of sorghum cane is to undergo rapid change. 

 This changeable disposition of the sorghum, as compared to the 

 sugar beet, and even to the tropical cane, is a serious fault. To 

 overcome this characteristic of sorghum will require the most 

 scientific agriculture and the researches of chemistry. Special 

 experiments should be undertaken, which have in view the 

 increase of the ratio of the sucrose to the other substances of 

 the juice. "The great trouble is in the remarkable variation 

 of the quantity of sugar in a field of sorghum plants. No esti- 

 mate of the total yield can be gathered from the examination 

 of one plant, as others in its immediate neighborhood might 

 be found to be radically different. The obtaining of a uniform 

 standard of high sucrose production by the sorghum cane will 

 possibly take scientists years to accomplish." 2 



1 Bui. No. 14, p. 15. 



2 H. W. Wiley, The Eighth Annual Meeting of the National Sugar Growers' 

 Association. St. Louis, Feb. 8th, 1887. 



