216 SUGAR. 



fact, that when the grain in the ear has acquired one half of the 

 full size, the quantity of sugar in the sap has passed its maximum, 

 or begun to decrease, and continues to do so until it disappears 

 entirely. Lopping off the young ears makes shorter work of it. 

 It is like taking the young from an animal giving suck, in which 

 case the milk soon ceases to flow into the breast, and that which 

 produced it is elaborated into other fluids necessary to the nourish- 

 ment of the different parts of the body of the parent. In the 

 corn-stalk, when deprived of its ears, the elements of sugar are 

 dissipated by increasing the size of the plant. 



Sugar may also be obtained from the carrot and the parsnip, 

 as well as from all sweet fruits. It is abundant throughout the 

 vegetable kingdom ; it forms the first food of plants when they 

 germinate in the seed ; when the first little sprout is projected 

 from a grain of corn, a portion of the farina, or starch, is changed 

 into sugar, which may be called the blood of the plant, and from 

 it is drawn the nourishment necessary to its expansion and ap- 

 pearance above the surface of the earth. In the latter growth of 

 many plants an inverse process is carried on, as in the Indian corn, 

 which I have just spoken of. In this instance, as also number- 

 less others, sugar is formed in large quantities in the body of the 

 plant, and elaborated into farina, or starch, in the ear. The 

 elements of which sugar and starch are composed are the same ; 

 the only difference is in their proportions. Chemists, being aware 

 of this, have converted starch into sugar ; and could do it with 

 certainty to any extent, were any advantage to be gained by it ; 

 but hitherto starch has been higher in price than sugar. 



