144 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 343 



portion to the glycerin or acrolein used. The importance of these 

 researches lies in the fact that they show how the chemical changes 

 which characterize the vital action of the plant can be imitated 

 with dead matter, and that, further, they shed a .bright gleam of 

 light on the hitherto obscure question of the arrangement of the in- 

 divisible particles, atoms, within the compound particles, the mole- 

 cules of these substances. 



Our supply of sugar will always be drawn from the vegetable 

 kingdom, the synthetic laboratory of nature. Many plants work 

 hard and economically at the production of sugar, and form it in 

 quantity. It occurs in all parts of plants, — root, stem, leaves flower, 

 fruit, and seed. In some grasses it is very abundant, in the sugar- 

 cane, in the sorgho grass, and in the young shoots of the maize. 

 In the common carrot and parsnip, and especially in the fleshy beet, 

 large quantities are contained. But for its commercial extraction 

 two sources are chiefly used — the sugar-cane and the beet-root, 

 and a third is of growing importance, the sorgho grass. 



The sugar-cane has far greater natural advantages than the 

 beet-root. At one time the former held the field without a rival. 

 But during the Napoleonic wars, France was deprived of her 

 supply of sugar, and she was driven to produce her sugar at home. 

 This resulted in the commencement of the beet-sugar industry, and 

 thus amongst the secondary results of war must be reckoned 

 bounty-fed sugar. To judge of the economic aspects of the two 

 industries, many factors have to be taken into account. When 

 that has been done, this balance will be found distinctly in favor 

 of the cane. Sugar-canes contain sufficient sugar to yield seventy 

 to eighty per cent of their weight of juice, in which there is some 

 twenty per cent of sugar. Beet-roots, as an extended series of in- 

 vestigations have shown, possess a percentage of sugar varying 

 from seven to a maximum of under fourteen, and on the average 

 about eleven. Now an acre of land which can be used for beet- 

 growing will be rented for, say, £i, per annum, while in the colonies 

 an equal area of cane-producing land will be rented for about one- 

 tenth of that amount. 



Further, a great divergence is found in the quantity of beet and 

 cane which two equal areas can grow. For instance, in the en- 

 virons of Magdeburg, an acre will yield about ten hundred-weight 

 of sugar ; whereas, in the home of the sugar-cane, some forty to 

 fifty hundred-weight can be obtained. Then other items in the 

 cost of production have to be considered ; the difference in wages 

 in the two regions, the difference in the cost of fuel, — in Europe 

 where coal is necessary, in the colonies where the waste matter of 

 the cane supplies the whole, or nearly the whole, of the fuel re- 

 quired. One can thus realize the grounds on which the Brazilian 

 commission on the sugar industry reported, that, in their opinion, 

 " the cost of production may be reduced in Brazil to such a degree 

 as to defy competition, and the struggle between cane and beet- 

 root must become ominous to the latter, which thrives only by the 

 artificial advantages which European countries have devised," 



Hitherto the artificial advantages have been on the side of the 

 European countries ; but now the greatly improved means of 

 transit, and the diffusion of knowledge, are raising the colonists to 

 a position nearer equality in these respects, of course excluding 

 bounties. And by this time the colonial sugar planter has learned 

 a severe lesson. He understands that, while nature has showered 

 her gifts on him with a lavish hand, she mercilessly punishes him 

 for carelessness and lack of promptitude. For if he cuts his canes, 

 they must within a few hours be crushed and extracted ; if he is 

 negligent, and leaves them for only two days, fermentation rapidly 

 ensues under the conditions of tropical temperature, and the canes 

 turn sour and must be thrown aside for fuel. In this way nature 

 has fined men whole fortunes. 



FATTENING LAMBS. 



At the Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station some experi- 

 ments have been carried out recently on the effect of different 

 rations on fattening lambs, under the direction of Professors J. P. 

 Roberts and Henry H. Wing. These experiments were, in the 

 main, a continuation of those carried on at this station one year 

 ago, and very nearly the same foods were used, none of them being 

 out of the reach of the general mass of farmers. 



The period of feeding lasted five full months, from November 

 25, 1888. to April 25, 1889. The lambs, twelve in number, were 

 selected from a lot that had been picked up in the surrounding 

 country for shipment. They were coarse wool grades, Shropshire 

 or Southdown, dropped late the previous spring, and had evidently 

 been scantily fed during the summer. They were not such ani- 

 mals as would have been selected to give the best financial results, 

 but being thin in flesh and fairly uniform, were well adapted to the 

 purposes of the experiment. The twelve were closely shorn, and 

 then divided into four lots of three each, in such a manner as to 

 have as nearly as possible an equal weight in each lot. Three 

 lambs were used in each lot, so that if for any reason there should 

 be an accident to one there might be two left at the end, from 

 which to gather data in regard to the effects of the rations. 



The lots were numbered respectively III, IV, V, and VI, and 

 each lamb was labelled with a separate numbered ear-tag, so that 

 data in regard to increase in weight, etc., could be collected indi- 

 vidually and by lots. The experiment progressed satisfactorily 

 from beginning to end, with but two exceptions. 



Lot III was fed what may be called a carbonaceous ration. The 

 lambs were given all the timotliy hay and whole corn they would 

 readily eat, and in addition about a half "pound of roots each per 

 day. Turnips were fed as long as the supply lasted, after that 

 mangels were used. 



Lot IV was fed a nitrogenous ration, although it was not so ex- 

 cessively rich in nitrogen as that used by some experimenters in 

 trials of this kind. The grain ration was made up of two parts 

 wheat bran and one part cotton-seed meal. A pound per day per 

 lamb of this mixture was fed at first ; afterward it was somewhat 

 increased or diminished, as the needs of the case required, the ob- 

 ject being to feed about all that would be readily eaten. This lot 

 received clover hay instead of timothy, and roots, as lot III. 



Lot V was fed an intermediate ration. The grain part was com- 

 posed of three parts corn and one part each of wheat bran and cot- 

 ton seed meal. It was eaten in about the same quantity as lot IV. 

 Timothy hay was used for this lot, and roots were fed as in each 

 of the others. Lot VI was fed the same as lot V, except that they 

 received no roots at all. 



The lambs had access to water the whole time. In the winter it 

 was warmed to about 80° before being offered them. The weight 

 was obtained in the following manner. A pail of water was 

 weighed and placed in the pen, where it remained till the next 

 morning, the sheep drinking whenever they wished. Each morn- 

 ing the pail, with whatever water remained in it, was weighed back, 

 the difference in weight being the amount consumed. A fresh 

 pailful was then weighed out^ and the process repeated. This was 

 kept up during the whole course of the experiment. The water 

 was warmed when it was first put in, and during the cold weather 

 the lambs soon learned to take nearly all their water as soon as 

 fresh water was given them. From the first a marked difference 

 was seen in the amount of water consumed by the different 

 lots, and this difference continued through the whole course of the 

 experiment. The total amount of water drank was as follows : 

 Lot III drank 308 pounds, or 1.03 pounds per lamb per day; lot 

 IV drank 1,185 pounds, or 3.95 pounds per lamb per day; lot V, 

 735 pounds, or 2.45 per lamb per day ; lot VI, 847 pounds, or 2.82 

 per lamb per day. 



The very much larger quantity of water consumed by the lambs 

 fed a highly nitrogenous ration is at once apparent. It will be seen 

 that lot IV drank nearly four times as much as lot III (fed carbon- 

 aceous food), and about 60 per cent more than lot V. These three 

 lots were all fed roots in equal kind and quantity, so that it would 

 seem that the different amounts of water consumed must be due to 

 the nitrogen in the ration. 



Lots V and VI were fed on the same ration, except that lot VI 

 had no roots. Probably for this reason they drank about 15 per 

 cent more water. The lambs fed on nitrogenous food, or lot IV, 

 made much the largest average gain, and those fed on carbonaceous 

 food, lot III, made the smallest gain, though not very much 

 smaller than lot VI. Animal individuality, a very perplexing con- 

 sideration in all work of this kind, showed its influence very 

 strongly. 



Notwithstanding the gain in live weight was very] markedly in 



