CORN FOR SUGAR. 



serving that, in some stalks, the juice 

 was extremely sweet, while in others 

 it was weak and watery. On exam- 

 ination, it appeared that the latter 

 had borne large and perfect ears of 

 grain, while on the former these were 

 either small in size or entirely want- 

 ing. The natural conclusion from 

 this observation was that, if the ears 

 were taken off in tlieir embryo state, 

 the whole quantity of saccharine mat- 

 ter produced by the process of vege- 

 tation would be preserved in the stalk, 

 from which it might be extracted 

 when the plant was matured ; but 

 the idea occurred too late in the sea- 

 son to test it by experiment. A few 

 stalks, however, were found, which, 

 from some cause, had borne no grain ; 

 these were bruised with a mallet, and 

 the juice extracted by a lever press. 

 Some lime was then added, and the 

 desiccation, evaporation, &c., began 

 and finished in a single vessel. By 

 these simple means sugar of a fair 

 quality was produced, which was sent 

 to the horticultural exhibition of our 

 society in 1810. 



" I have since been informed, by 

 Mr. Ellsworth, that Mons. Pallas, of 

 France, had discovered, in 1839, that 

 the saccharine properties of maize 

 were increased by merely taking off 

 the ear in its embryo state. An ex- 

 periment, however, which I instituted 

 to determine the value of this plan 

 resulted in disappointment : the quan- 

 tity of sugar produced was not large 

 enough to render it an object. The \ 

 reasons of this failure will be suf- 

 ficiently obvious on stating the cir- 

 cumstances. It was lound that ta- 

 king the ear off a large stalk, such as 

 is produced by the common mode of 

 cultivation, inflicted a considerable 

 wound upon the plant, which injured 

 its health, and, of course, lessened 

 its productive power. It was also 

 found that the natural disposition to 

 form grain was so strong that sev- 

 eral successive ears were thrown out, 

 by which labour was increased and 

 the injuries of the plant multiplied. 

 Lastly, it appeared that the juice 

 yielded from those plants contained 

 a considerable portion of foreign sub- 



184 



stance not favourable to the object in 

 view. Yet, under all these disadvan 

 tages, from one hundred to two hun 

 dred pounds of sugar per acre may be 

 obtained. 



"The manifest objections detailed 

 above suggested another mode of cul- 

 tivation, to be employed in combina- 

 tion with the one first proposed ; it 

 consists simply in raising a greater 

 number of plants on the same space 

 of ground. By this plan all the un- 

 favourable results above mentioned 

 were obviated, a much larger quan- 

 tity of sugar was produced, and of 

 better quality. The juice produced 

 by this mode of cultivation is remark- 

 ably pure and agreeable to the taste. 

 Samples of the sugar yielded by it 

 are now in the Patent Office, with a 

 small hand mill by which the stalks 

 were crushed. Some of the same 

 kind was exhibited to our agricultu- 

 ral society in October, 1841, accom- 

 panied with an answer to an invita- 

 tion from its president. Dr. J. W. 

 Thompson, to explain the mode of 

 culture and process of inanufacturing 

 the sugar. The molasses, after stand- 

 ing, as before mentioned, from one to 

 two months, became filled with small 

 crystals, which, on being drained, ex- 

 hibited a peculiar kind of sugar ; the 

 grain is small, and somewhat inferior 

 in appearance, but still is as sweet 

 and agreeable to the taste as can be 

 desired. A small sample of this su- 

 gar I have brought for your inspec- 

 tion. This product, from what was 

 thought to be molasses, is a new and 

 unexpected discovery, and discloses 

 an important fact in the investigation 

 of this subject. It shows the supe- 

 rior degree of perfection attained by 

 the corn plant, compared with the 

 cane, in any part of the Union. It is 

 generally understood that the latter 

 cannot be fully matured in any except 

 a tropical climate, and the proportion 

 of molasses obtained from any plant 

 is greater or less according to the im- 

 maturity or perfection of its growth. 

 The sweetness of the corn-stalk is 

 a matter of universal observation. 

 Our forefathers, in the revolutionary 

 , struggle, resorted to it as a means to 



