104 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[July, 



upon the unknown low organisms, which are 

 thought to be the means of transporting the 

 various infectious diseases, the effects of chlo- 

 rine and sulphurous acid were studied upon 

 known living organisms ; the probabihties be- 

 ing thought to be in favor of the theory that 

 complete disinfection should destroy at least 

 all known forms of life, although it may be 

 true that the tenacity of life of the infective 

 matter of various diseases diflers, just as the 

 deeree of cold necessary to put a stop to yel- 

 low fever is much less than that required to 

 arrest the spread of cholera. 



Chlorine and sulphur fumes, in sufficient 

 quantity, were found to be efficient iu killing 

 insects, fungi, bacteria and infusoria ; tlie ob- 

 jections to chlorine iu houses being that it 

 is more costly, that its use is more difficult, 

 and that it destroys metals, textile fabrics and 

 colors. 



The burning of ten grammes of sulphur for 

 each cubic meter of air space, tightly closed, 

 was found not to kill bacteria, infusoria, or 

 all insects ; twenty grammes, however, were 

 proved to be sufficient for that purpose. One 

 volume of water, when saturated at 59° Fah., 

 absorbs tliirty-seven volumes of sulphurous 

 acid— enough to kill all the low organisms 

 found in putrid water. 



The followiug articles were found uninjured 

 after several hours' exposure to an atmosphere 

 in which twenty grammes of sluphur had 

 been burned to every cubic meter of air space: 

 A clock of steel and brass, rusty and clean 

 nails, gold and silver money, a military epau- 

 let, various colored silk articles, a colored rug, 

 calicOj down pillows, a gilt-framed looking- 

 glass, books, water in an uncorked bottle, 

 flour, meat, salt, bread, apples, cinnamon, 

 vanilla, cigars, wall-paper, oil-paintings, var- 

 nished articles, gas fixtures, water fixtures ; 

 a highly polished razor bad a slightly clouded 

 appearance on its upper side, but that was 

 easily rubbed ott'. The flour and meat were 

 cooked and eaten, and the cigars were smoked, 

 without any abnormal taste or smell being ob- 

 served ; in the bread some of the observers 

 noticed a slightly acid taste, the inside portion 

 of the apples was unchanged, the skin wa? 

 slightly sour ; the water, after standing, had 

 an acid reaction, but no decided taste or 

 smell. Litmus paper placed between the 

 leaves of books and under the carpet was 

 turned bright red. Many of the articles ex- 

 posed had a decided smell of sulphur at first, 

 but that soon disappeared. 



Experiments seem to show that clothing, 

 bedding and other articles may be disinfected 

 without being changed chemically or injured; 

 and it should be added that practically this 

 method has apparently accomplished perfect 

 disinfectiou, as tested iu Berlin. 



If we may judge from these results, effec- 

 tive disinfection, by burning sulphur, requires 

 eighteen ounces to each space of one thousand 

 cubit feet. The sulphur should be broken in 

 small pieces, burned ever a vessel of water or 

 sand, so as to avoid danger from fire, and, if 

 the room is large, it should be put in separate 

 vessels in ditt'erent places. The room should 

 be tightly closed for six hours and then aired 

 it ij better that the room should be warm than 

 cold. Of course, efficiently disinfected air is, 

 during the process of disinfection, irrespirable. 

 Most articles may be disinfected in this way, 

 if hung up loosely in the fumigated chamber' 

 although it would be an additional safeguard 

 to expose anything thick, like a bed-mattress, 

 to prolonged heat at a temperature of about 

 240° Fah. , and, indeed, heat must, with our 

 present knowledge, be considered the best dis- 

 infectant. With this end in view, local boards 

 of health are advised to procure furnaces and 

 laundries, as is commonly done in other coun- 

 tries, to be used for the sole purpose of disin- 

 fecting articles which have been exposed to in- 

 fectious diseases,as recommended in the Ninth 

 Annual Report of the State Board of Health, 

 and described by Dr. A. H. Johnson, is an 

 exhaustive paper on scarlet fever (pp. 225 et 

 seq.), in that report. Of course, a much sim- 

 pler disinfecting furnace than that described 

 will answer every purpose. For ordinary use, 



in disinfecting houses, the sulphur process is 

 the best. 



A solution of chloride of zinc (one part of 

 Burnett's disinfecting fluid to two hundred of 

 water) very quickly kills bacteria which have 

 been placed in it, and arrests putrefaction. 

 Caustic lime serves equally as well (1 to 100), 

 but leaves a sediment not always easy to re- 

 move. Carbolic acid in sufficient strength to 

 be effective (1 to 100) is more expensive and 

 of disagreeable odor. 



It is needless to add that " disinfectants " 

 used iu sufficient quantities to destroy bad 

 smells do not necessarily kill microscopic liv- 

 ing organisms; and it is not supposed that 

 they directly influence the so called "germs" 

 of the infectious diseases, unless concentrated 

 to the extent which has been mentioned. 



Finally, fresh, pure air acts as one of the 

 best '-disinfectants " by enormously diluting 

 the infectious matter, and, under certain coi> 

 ditions, including time, must render it inert 

 to all effect, even if not quickly destroying it, 

 as many think is the case. 



SUGAR FROM INDIAN CORN AND 

 SORGHUM. 



An Important Statement Before the State 

 Board of Agriculture. 

 One of the most important papers presented 

 during the late session of the Board was that 

 submitted by Mr. F. L. Stewart, of Murrays- 

 ville, Westmoreland county. Pa., and read 

 by Mr. Florence J. Smith. Samples of the 

 sugar were submitted for the inspection of the 

 delegates. 



In presenting at this time a brief account 

 of the new process of sugar luauufacture, 

 with which my name is associated, it will be 

 necessary for me to allude particularly to the 

 history of my researches in this line of work, 

 inasmuch as all the tacts of that sort which 

 the general public cares to inquire about have 

 been published. But it affords me great sat- 

 isfaction, as a Pennsylvauian, to be able to 

 say that my first systematic experiments di- 

 rected to the extraction of sugar from the 

 juice of the green stems of Indian corn were 

 made in Philadelphia, where I went the Cen- 

 tennial year, and that the fruits of that work 

 were exhibited at the International Exhibi- 

 tion a few days before it closed. I have re- 

 sponded to an invitation to exhibit the pro- 

 cess now perfected in practical operatiou in 

 the hall of the Permanent Exhibition, during 

 the continuance of the approaching State 

 Fair. 



Briefly described, the process deals with 

 saccharine juices containing in their normal 

 condition both cane and fruit sugars, the 

 former largely preponderating. 



I recognize three distinct cla.sses of saccha- 

 rine juices, viz : 



First. Those like the tropical sugar cane 

 and the beet, which, when their juices are 

 mature, contain in association with other sub- 

 stances true crystal I izable sugar only. 



Second. Those like most fruits, such as the 

 apple and the grape, which, whatever their 

 composition otherwise, contain no true sugar 

 but only glucose, etc. 



Third. Those like maize and sorghum, 

 which have not heretofore been generally re- 

 cognized as distinct, containing, in their best 

 condition, both cane sugar and uncrystalliz- 

 able sugar, but which, by reason of the de- 

 fective modes of treatment heretofore resort- 

 ed to, have proved practically uncrystallizable. 

 The difficulties are now entirely removed. 

 It is now clearly shown that the juices of 

 maize and sorghum grown in the United 

 States are richer in sugar of the true cane 

 type than any other plants that can be grown 

 intemperate latitudes; that nine-ter,ths of 

 their saccharine matter is such sugar, and 

 that the impediments to crystallization are 

 such as are peculiar to these jjlants. 



Accordingly, I find that neither the pro- 

 cesses adapted to the extraction of sugar from 

 the Southern cane, nor the much more elabo- 

 rate or costly methods of the beet-sugar man- 

 ufactureres in Europe, are appropriate to the 



successful extraction of sugar from these 

 plants, which in this case involves entirely 

 new conditions and requires radical changes 

 in the mode of chemical treatment. 



Entirely aside and from its advantages as 

 an antiseptic and a docolorizer, I have dis- 

 covered a peculiar property in the dioxide of 

 sulphur when employed upon these juices 

 under certain conditions, which, heretofore 

 unknown and unused, now perfectly solves 

 the problem of the separation and crvstalliza- 

 tion of the sugar. This is done expeditiously, 

 cheaply and certainly. 



Practically, then, the value of these new 

 sugar-producing plants may be concisely 

 stated as follows : 



First. The steins of Indian corn, in any of 

 its many varieties, if taken at the proper stage 

 of development, as well as those of the differ- 

 ent varieties of sorghum, contain in great 

 abundance a saccharine juice scarcely ex- 

 celled in richness by the sugar cane of Louisi- 

 ana. The sugar produced by this process is 

 true crystallized cane sugar. Maize sugar, 

 it need hardly be said, it is not the so-called 

 and comparatively worthless "corn-sugar" 

 sometimes made from the starch of the 

 ripened grain by a well-known chemical trans- 

 formation, but it is a natural product of the 

 immature plant. One hundred pounds of the 

 stems of the«e plants at the proper period of 

 their growth, (when the grain is in the milk 

 in the case of corn and shortly after the flow- 

 ering period to perfect ripeness in the case 

 of sorghum) about 87i parts of juice and 

 12^ parts of woody fibre and insoluble sub- 

 stances. 12 to 1.5 per cent, of the juice is 

 crystallized cane sugar,nearly all of which can 

 be extracted. 



Second. The impurities which hinder crys- 

 tallization, as already said, are of a peculiar 

 kind, and resist every other known mode of 

 treatment except that known in this process. 

 The sugar so made is of as good quality as 

 that made from the Southern cane or the 

 beet, and is produced far more easily and 

 cheaply. 



Third. Like the sugar cane and unlike the 

 beet, these plants possess a saccharine quality 

 of the juice which is little aftected by the pres- 

 ence of nitrogenous substances in the soil. 

 Hence they are adapted to a wide range of 

 soils, notably those of Jhe Western prairies, 

 where the beet is a failure. 



Fourth. All varieties of Indian corn and 

 sorghum yield this saccharine juice, and 

 natural hybridization does not greatly affect 

 its quality, and hence but little care, compara- 

 tively, is needed to prevent intermixture of 

 varieties, although by careful selection, richer 

 varieties than those now existing will, no 

 doubt, be produced. 



Fifth. The immature corn plant only be- 

 ing used for this purpose, the sugar may be 

 produced within a little over tliree months 

 from the time of planting the seed. Hence 

 all danger of frost may be avoided in our ex- 

 treme Northern States, and generally the 

 ground can be used for producing two crops 

 in a season— a sugar crop, followed by tur- 

 nips, etc. In these respects, as well as in 

 many others, these plants have a great advan- 

 tage over both the Southern cane and the 

 beet. Some of the most prolific varieties of 

 sorghum require but a little longer period to 

 mature their juice than Indian corn. 



Sixth. The yield of sugar per acre from a 

 single crop will range from 2,000 to 3,000 

 pounds, or equal to tlie average from the 

 sugar cane aud the beet at their best, and at 

 one-half of the cost. The total cost of produc- 

 tion, including the cultivation of the ground, 

 the harvesting of the crop, manufacture, in- 

 terest on machinery employed, chemicals, 

 royalty, etc., should not exceed 2^ to 3 cents 

 per pound. The yield of sugar from each 

 gallon of dense syrup produced will vary from 

 9 to 11 pounds, averaging 10 pounds. The 

 yield per acre of ground planted may there- 

 fore be roughly estimated by the known ca- 

 pacity of the land in any civen locality to 

 produce crude sorghum syrup in former years; 

 200 gallons of dense sorghum syrup, crystal- 



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