34 



before, the plant body contains a great amount of water at the time 

 of flowering. It was, consequently, expected that cell-sap might be 

 rather dilute at that time. Yet, as a matter of fact, in the leaves 

 and stems the solutions of these sugars are more highly concentrated 

 than at maturity, although the plant body contains a less amount of 

 water at the latter stage. The solution of saccharose in the grain 

 becomes denser towards maturity, owing to the slower transformation 

 or the accumulation of saccharose in the maturing grain, from which 

 much water does not evaporate. Approaching maturity, most of ehe 

 leaves begin to wither and hence to lose water ; and by the time of 

 maturity there is but a small amount of water found in them Accord- 

 ingly, as shown in the above table, the cell-sap in the leaves at maturity 

 is densely impregnated with these sugars, while a dilute solution is 

 observed in the stems, which latter contain a large amount of water 

 and transmit these soluble carbohydrates to the grain. 



All the parts of rice plant contain a very small amount ol 

 dextrine in comparison with the quantity of soluble sugars. At the 

 young stage of the rice crop dextrine can not be detected, as Table 

 23, "Dextrine", shows, yet it (dextrine) appears in the various 

 parts of the rice plant when the absolute amount of dry matter in 

 the entire plant begins to increase rapidly. The stems at the time 

 of flowering are found to contain the highest amount of dextrine, and 

 at maturity dextrine decreases in amount, as do the other soluble 

 carbohydrates. Therefore dextrine seems to be easily convertible 

 into higher carbohydrates in the vegetative organs such as the stems 

 and leaves. However, the accumulation of dextrine takes place in 

 the maturing grain. It is not possible to ascertain whether this 

 substance is a compound intermediate between the lower soluble 

 sugars and the higher insoluble carbohydrates in the plant's body, 

 or a by-product of the formation of higher compounds from the 

 sugars. 



There is another consideration, viz : that if soluble starch be 



