No. 12. Making sugar from corn-stalks. — Cone's Dynamometer. 373 



Experiments in making Sugar from 

 Corn-stalks. 



The following, taken from the minutes of 

 the transactions of the French Academy of 

 Science, we copy from the American Farmer. 

 It will be read with deep interest. 



" At the sittings of this body in Septem- 

 ber last, a series of reports and researches 

 was submitted by M. M. Biot and Soubeiran, 

 on the subject of making sugar from Indian 

 corn. It seems that, as far back as 1834, 

 M. Pallas placed before the Academy an 

 account of his having extracted two per 

 cent, of sugar — entirely like that of the 

 sugar-cane — from the stalk of the maize. 

 M. Robiquet again reported upon Pallas's 

 communication, suggesting that the greatest 

 yield of sugar could probably be obtained 

 immediately after the flowering of the plant, 

 and that its quantity would be greatly less- 

 ened when the grain began to be completely 

 formed. In 1839, M. Pallas again commu- 

 nicated experiments as to the effect, on the 

 saccharine qualities of maize, of removing 

 the ear at several stages of its growth. 

 Upon this paper, Messrs. Bouissingault and 

 Biot again reported, pointing out the defects 

 of M. Pallas's experiments, and indicating the 

 proper method of investigating the matter. 



"We give this little sketch of the pro- 

 gress of this conversion of maize to the pur- 

 pose of furnishing sugar, as interesting to 

 those who, in this country, are prosecuting 

 the same object. Monsieur Biot's last paper 

 is to the following effect: 



"'The stalks upon which they operated, 

 were taken from the Jardin des Plantes. 

 Some of them had been separated from their 

 heads; others had not. They report that 

 the sugar of maize is precisely that of the 

 sugar-cane, mixed, however, with a small 

 quantity of sugar of fecula. The juice of 

 the maize, which had been castrated, con- 

 tained per litre, 113 grammes, or 12 per 

 cent, of sugar; that of the non-castrated, 

 gave 124 grammes, or 13 per cent. These 

 experiments prove that castration is rather 

 injurious than otherwise, and that if maize 

 is to be used for this purpose of extracting 

 its sugar, it must be in its normal state. 

 Whether this new industry on an extensive 

 scale, would be a profitable one, is a ques- 

 tion which, at the present moment, may be 

 matter of dispute ; but there is one conside- 

 ration in its favour, supposing the produc- 

 tiveness of the maize to be such, if culti- 

 vated to the necessary extent, as to render 

 the cultivation of the beet-root unnecessary. 

 The latter must remain on the ground during 

 the whole of the summer, and the moment 

 of harvest is too near that of the whiter- 



sowing for corn, to leave time to prepare 

 the ground for receiving the new seed. 

 Maize, on the contrary, runs through all 

 the phases of vegetation in a few months, 

 and it can be gathered in, as it is not neces- 

 sary to leave it on the ground until it has 

 attained to full maturity, and sufficiently 

 early to have abundant time to prepare the 

 ground for the winter corn-seed. M. The- 

 nard, one of the members of the Academy, 

 alluding to that part of the report of Messrs. 

 Biot and Soubeiran, in which it is stated that 

 there is a small quantity of sugar of fecula, 

 mixed with the cane sugar of the maize, ob- 

 served that the beet-root contains crystal- 

 lizable sugar, unmixed with sugar of fecula, 

 and that probably the presence of the latter 

 in the experiments made on maize, was due 

 to the mode of manipulation, and that it does 

 not exist naturally in the plant.' " 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Cone's Dynamometer. 



Messrs. Editors, — I find in the "Ame- 

 rican Agriculturist" the description of a 

 cheap, simple and effective Dynamometer, 

 which is said, upon trial, to have satisfied 

 every one as to its accomplishing all that 

 could be desired. It is as follows: 



" Take the beam of any patent scales that 

 will weigh 10 or 12 cwt, suspend it by the 

 upper hook, and put sufficient weight upon 

 the lower hook to balance the beam ; then 

 hang upon the small end, a one pound 

 weight, and put sufficient weight upon the 

 lower hook to balance, and ascertain the 

 number of pounds on the lower hook, requi- 

 site to balance the one pound : the beam 

 used by Mr. Cone, required 32 lbs. on the 

 weighi-hook to balance one pound on the 

 small end. Now, hitch the lower hook to 

 the clevis of the plough, and the team to 

 the upper hook ; the small end of the bal- 

 ance or beam, running out upon the land- 

 side at right angles to the plough; and from 

 the small end of the beam, bring a wire 

 near to the handle of the plough ; attach to 

 this wire the upper end or hook of a common 

 spiral balance, and make the other end of 

 the balance fast to the plough, when the 

 spiral balance becomes the index to the 

 force required to move the plough. Thus, 

 if the index of the balance marks 14 pounds, 

 then the force exerted on Mr. Cone's scale 

 would be, 14 x 32 = 448 lbs. The princi- 

 ple is perfect; the only thing necessary, is 

 to hit upon some plan to have them uniform 

 throughout the Union. 



In applying it to a plough, it should be so 

 constructed as to work perpendicularly, in- 

 stead of horizontally ; and this could be done, 



