142 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



COMPOSITION OF THE CHINESE SUGAR CANE. 



De. Augustus Voeloker, of the Royal Agricul- 

 tural College at Cirencester, England, has published 

 some analyses of Chinese Sugar Cane grown on the 

 College farm. 



The sorghum was submitted to analysis at two 

 different periods of its growth ; namely, on the 

 23d of August and on the 26th of September, 1859. 

 At the first period the plant had no proper stems. 

 The stalks consisted merely of leaves rolled up, 

 which could be entirely untwisted. The composi- 

 'l;i(m of the plant at this time was as follows : 



In Natural Dried sit 



State. 212° 



Water, S5-17 



,j Albumen, "36 242 



( Other soluble protein compounds, '90 6'08 



Mucilage, pectin, and digestible fibre,.. 6'63 44'71 



Soluble mineral matters, "81 5-46 



tinsoluble protein compounds, 1 25 8-43 



Indigestible woody fibre (cellular) 457 80'81 



Insoluble mineral matters, "81 209 



10000 100-00 



•Containing nitrogen, '21 171 



tContaining nitrogen, "20 1'35 



Total quantity of nitrogen, '41 2-76 



" It will be seen," says Dr. V., " that the sorghum 

 contained a good deal of nitrogeuized matter at 

 tlie time when the analysis was made, but no sugar 

 whatever. 



" The taste of the plants on the 23d of August 

 was anything but sweet. I did not expect, there- 

 fore, to find much sugar, but I was unprepared to 

 meet with a total absence of sugar. In order to 

 verify this fact, I caused a direct sugar-determina- 

 tion to be made in a fresh and large quantity of the 

 whole plant, but was unable to detect any appreci- 

 able quantity of sugar. 



"Horses and cattle to whom the plants were 

 given, at first refused them altogether, and after 

 some time partook only sparingly of this food. 

 They evidently did not relish it. 



"There can be but little doubt that the sorghum 

 was quite unripe by the end of August, and was 

 unfit for feeding purposes. 



" It is worthy of special notice that the plants 

 contained no sugar at that time. Last summer 

 was unusually hot, but, nothwithstanding, the 

 plants were quite unfit for feeding by the end of 

 August. 



" Fortunately, the last week in August and the 

 month of September were warm ; the plants there- 

 fore continued to grow vigorously, and formed per- 

 fect stems, which to the taste were very sweet 

 when examined on the 26th of September." 



The plants analysed on the 26th of September 

 were cut about four inches above the ground. The 



analysis was made with the whole plant, with the 

 following result: 



In Natural Dried at 



State. 212» 



Water, 81-80 



^(Albumen -37 2 03 



1 Other soluble protein compounds, 1-15 6 86 



Sugar, 5-85 32-15 



Wax and fatty matter, 255 14-01 



Mucilage, pectin, and digestible fibre,.. . 2-5& 14S6 



Soluble mineral matters, -74 406 



tinsoluble protein compounds -Cft 362 



Indigestible woody fibre (cellular) 4 05 22 25 



Insoluble mineral matters, -2S 1-26 



♦Containing nitrogen,. . . 

 tCoutaiuing nitrogen,. .. 



100-00 

 . -245 

 . -106 



100-00 

 1-34 



Total quantity of nitrogen, -851 1-92 



"The sorghum contained," says Dr. V., "it will 

 be noticed, nearly 6 per cent, of sugar on the 26th 

 of September. Cattle supplied with this grass at 

 any time greedily ate it, and, to all appearance, did 

 well upon it. 



" The proportion of sugar in the whole" plant is 

 about the same as that in cafrots. 



"On examining the stumps which were left in 

 the ground, they were found much sweeter than 

 the upper part of the stems. The difference in the 

 taste was so marked, that I bad made two direct 

 sugar-determinations by the fermentation process. 



" The first determination was made in the stems 

 cut about two inches from the ground. It gave 

 7.65 per cent, of sugar. 



" The second was made in the upper part of the 

 stems, cut about 12 inches from the ground. It 

 yielded 3'60 per cent, of sugar, or not quite half 

 the quantity which was found in the lower part. 



"At the same time I determined the amount of 

 crude fibre (the part insoluble in water,) in both 

 cases, and found in the lower part of stems 6' 50, 

 per cent, of crude fibre, and in the upper part 13'01 

 per cent. 



"We have thus — 



Proportion of Sugar and Crude Fibre. 



In Stems cut In Stems cut 



2 inches 12 inches 



above ground, above ground. 



Percentage of sugar, 7 65 8-60 



» crude fibre, 6 50 18 01 



" This distribution of sugar and fibre in the stems 

 of sorghum is interesting in a physiological point 

 of view. "While speaking of the distribution of 

 sugar in sorghum, I may state that Professor Buck- 

 man observed last September that, while the prin- 

 cipal or main stem was quite sweet, the stolons or 

 side shoots were still bitter. It would thus appear 

 that this grass does not ripen together ; the central 

 or oldest stem is perfect before tlie lateral shoots. 

 Fearing the central stems might get so hard and 

 woody as to become useless as a cattle-food if left 

 in the ground until sufiicient sugar is developed in 



