THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 23 



" One of the points M. Vilmorin was desirous 

 of establishing was, at what period of the growth 

 the stalks began to contain sugar, and, conse- 

 quently, when its manufacture should commence. 

 He came to the conclusion that it coincided w^ith 

 the putting forth of the spikes ; but the propor- 

 tion of sugar in the stalks continued to increase, 

 until the seeds were in a milky state. In the 

 plant in flower, 'he observed that the amount of 

 sugar diminished in the merithalles (parts of the 

 stalks between the nodes, or joints), the nearer 

 tltey were to the top ; and also the lower part 

 of each merithalle contained less saccharine mat- 

 ter than the upper. In consequence of this, and 

 owing to the snndlness and hardness of the lower 

 knot, the centre of the stalk is the richest por- 

 tion. He was inclined to the opinion that, at a 

 later period, the merithalles lower down the stalk 

 are impoverished in the amount, if not in the 

 quality, of the sugar they contain. The ripe- 

 ness of the seeds does not appear much to lessen 

 the production of sugar, at least in the climate 

 near Paris ; but in other countries where it ma- 

 tures when the weather is still warm, the effect 

 may be different. According to tlie report of M. 

 de Beauregard, addressed to the ' Comice de 

 Toulon,' the ripening of the sorgho in that lat- 



