60 



A mean of seventeen- analyses of iinphee and sorghum showed the 

 following results : l 



Dr. Wetherill also gives a table of mean results obtained by others 

 (p. 533), and adds the following observations: 



It follows, from the experiments thus quoted and reported, that the largest propor- 

 tion of cane sugar to uncrystallizable sugar is afforded by the juice analyzed by Law- 

 rence Smith, to wit, as 10 to 2. My average results full far below this ; yet if the 

 analyses of my best canes are taken, their juice "will compare favorably with that of 

 the analysis of Smith. For example, by the analyses numbered 8, 10, 11, for every 10 

 parts of cane sugar found we have, respectively, 2.1, 1.8, and 1.8 per cent, of uncrystal- 

 lizable sugar. It is remarkable that in analyses 10 and 11 the juices differing so much 

 in actual saccharine richness should contain the same relative proportion of cano 

 sugar to uncrystallizable sugar. When my mean results are compared with the re- 

 sults afforded by the practical experiment of Mr. Levering, who grew the sorghum, 

 analyzed its juice, and converted the same into cane sugar and molasses, it appears 

 that my mean of sorghum analyses gives very nearly the same proportion of cane sugar 

 to uncrystallizable sugar, and that my imphee mean gives a larger proportion of cane 

 sugar. I think that my analyses and their means will give a moderately accurate 

 reflection of the present state of the sorghum and impheo culture in our country. 



There are, doubtless, finer canes grown than I have examined, and richer both in 

 sirup-making quality and in the proportion of cane sugar present ; but the analyses 

 probably represent the present condition of the cane as planted. 



Henri Erni 2 reports one analysis of sorghum. It gave : 



Per cent. 



Sucrose 10.31 



Glucose 2.07 



He adds : 



Contrary to my expectations, I found that the expressed sorgho juice of ripe cane 

 whether neutralized by lime or not, refused to crystallize, for what solidified or gran- 

 ulated after long standing of the sirup was grape-sugar. This fact has been estab- 

 lished by the largest and most skillful farmers and experimenters, and admitted at the 

 western sorghum conventions. The result might be ascribed to the total inversion 

 previously of the cane-sugar by the influence of acid, or of a ferment, but this is not 

 the case, as I have repeatedly been able to prove. The following extreme case may 

 suffice for illustration of this fact : In the sugar determination which is here given, 

 cane-sugar was found, and yet the most persistent efforts failed to produce a single 

 crystal in the concentrated liquid. 



^Department of Agriculture, report ,1862,- pp.' 514^ seq. 

 ^Agricultural tfeporV 1865; pT 48: ~ ! ' 



