262 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



By distillation it produces a quantity of 

 phlegm, acid, oil, gas, and charcoal. 



Bergman, in treating sugar with the nitrous 

 acid, obtained a new acid, now known by the 

 name of oxalic acid. Lavoisier, after many 

 experiments, has assigned three principles to 

 sugar : hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon. 



If the juice of sugar be left to itself, it 

 passes into the acetous fermentation, and 

 during the decomposition of the juice, which 

 is continued for three or four months, a great 

 quantity of glutinous matter is separated ; 

 this matter, when distilled, gives a portion of 

 ammoniac. If the juice be exposed to the 

 spiritous fermentation, a wine is obtained 

 analogous to cider. If this wine, after being 

 kept in bottle a year, be distilled, a portion 

 of brandy is obtained. 



Afield of canes, when standing in the month 

 of November, in arrow, or full bloom, (says 

 Mr.Beckford, in his descriptive account of the 

 Island of Jamaica,) is one of the most beau- 

 tiful productions that the pen or pencil can 

 possibly describe. It in common rises from 

 three to eight feet or more in height ; a dif- 

 ference of growth that very strongly marks 

 the difference of soil or the varieties of 

 culture. It is, when ripe, of a bright and 



