^28 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 248 



each cell. By this a considerable proportion of these acids is 

 neutralized. In the treatment of the juice the solution of the prob- 

 lem seems to have rested rather in the simplification of the method 

 to be used than in its further complication. In fact, it is really a 

 return to first principles, as it were ; for the method which was 

 finally adopted, and which has given such excellent results, is 

 the old method of liming the juice to a slightly alkaline re-action, 

 and boiling and skimming in an open pan. No filtration is used 

 ■whatever, the scums being simply returned to the cells, where they 

 -are again extracted, so that no loss of sugar is sustained. Treated 

 in this way, the diffusion juice shows a higher coefficient of purity 

 than juice obtained from the same cane by pressure, also an in- 

 creased ratio of sucrose to glucose. 



Single experimental runs have given a yield as high as one hun- 

 dred and thirteen pounds of "first sugar' to the ton of cleaned 

 ■cane, with seventeen and a half pounds of 'second sugar,' or a total 

 of one hundred and thirty pounds to the ton. This is at least twice 

 as large a yield as has ever been obtained by pressure extraction, 

 even under the most favorable conditions. The results on the sea- 

 son's work have not yet been ascertained. 



The people of Kansas are highly pleased over the results of the 

 work so far, and, with characteristic Western energy, are preparing 

 to rush into the sugar-business immediately, and make Kansas, in 

 the language of the local newspapers, ' rival Louisiana ' as a sugar- 

 producing State. A few words of caution to these would-be sugar- 

 growers might not come amiss. No industry requires more careful 

 management, or a greater amount of scientific knowledge and skill, 

 to make it a success, than the production of sugar. In order to 

 compete with other sugar-producing countries and plants, the most 

 careful system of cultivation should be combined with the most 

 skilful and economical methods of manufacture. The beet- sugar 

 industry of Europe may well serve as a model in this respect, in 

 that the proper cultivation of the beet-roots is regarded as of prime 

 importance, and in the manufacture of the sugar every pound of 

 waste or by-product is utilized, and every ton of fuel is made to 

 yield its maximum equivalent of power. The most careful and 

 thorough scientific supervision is exercised over the entire process 

 •of manufacture. At the present prices for sorghum-seed, which is 

 in great demand for planting for forage purposes and for the sirup, 

 a yield of any thing in the neighborhood of one hundred pounds of 

 sugar to the ton of cane would afford a very wide margin on the 

 cost of production, since the cane can be grown for one dollar and 

 fifty cents per ton ; but the success of the industry would necessa- 

 rily involve the reduction of the prices for these important by-prod- 

 ucts to a much lower figure, and cut off a very considerable pro- 

 portion of the present profits in the production. On the other 

 hand, much is to be hoped from the apparently great adaptability of 

 the plant to the soil and climate of a large area of this country, and 

 from scientifically conducted experiments for the increase of its sac- 

 charine content. Judging from analogy, it is reasonable to expect 

 that the latter can be greatly increased by the well-known methods 

 ■of selection and cultivation. Sorghum-cane has been grown on the 

 grounds of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, which 

 ■contained as high as eighteen per cent of sucrose in the juice, or 

 sixteen per cent of the cane. If a field of sorghum could be raised 

 which would average fifteen per cent of sucrose without too great 

 an expenditure for cultivation, the question of the profitable pro- 

 duction of sugar from the plant would be solved at once. 



This much, at least, can be said of the experiments that have 

 been carried on by the Department of Agriculture : they have 

 shown that good marketable sugar can be made from sorghum- 

 cane in sufficient quantities to pay at the present prices for the prod- 

 ucts and by-products of the manufacture. The question as to 

 whether we are to have a national sugar-industry in the United 

 -States will probably work out its own solution before many years. 



These experiments in the manufacture of sugar should have a 

 particular interest for scientific men, for their success means not 

 only a triumph of science, but also a complete vindication of the 

 policy of giving governmental aid to scientific investigations. The 

 development of the sorghum-sugar industry so far has been carried 

 on entirely by the Department of Agriculture, with appropriations 

 made by Congress for that purpose. Numerous objections have 

 been raised against these appropriations, and both loud and deep 



have been the repinings as the years went on and no practical out- 

 come was obtained. In case they are crowned with ultimate suc- 

 cess, these objectors will be most fitly answered ; for the money 

 spent would be but as a molecule of water to the Mississippi River 

 in comparison with the stream of wealth which would flow from 

 the establishment of a national sugar-industry. Let us hope the 

 lesson will have its effect upon the people in the adoption of a still 

 more liberal policy in aiding scientific research in the future. The 

 experiments in the application of the diffusion to Louisiana cane 

 will be commenced some time in October. From the favorable 

 results which were obtained last fall at Fort Scott in operating upon 

 a few carloads of cane after the close of the sorghum season, it 

 may reasonably be expected that the yield obtained will be verj' 

 satisfactory, although the problem is somewhat more difficult than 

 in the case of sorghum, as the results obtained by mill-extraction 

 from the Southern cane are much superior to those obtained from 

 sorghum. C. A. Crampton. 



Fort Scott, Kan., Oct. 23. 



The Purslane-Worm. 



It may be of interest to note that the 'purslane-caterpillar,' de- 

 scribed in a recent number of Sciejice (x. No. 246), has made its 

 appearance at this point ; at least, a new species of caterpillar, new 

 to all observers, and feeding on purslane, has made itself very con- 

 spicuous for a few months past. In this vicinity the early summer 

 was very dry, and the purslane, which is not yet so common a weed 

 with us as farther east, was not very plentiful. But late in August, 

 after a series of heavy showers, it sprang up, more siw, abundantly, 

 and with it came this stranger in such numbers as to attract the 

 notice of one quite unlearned in such matters. Both the plant and 

 its boarder flourished along the line of a railroad leading south-east 

 into Kansas, from which State it is in all probability an emigrant ; 

 but, if so, one would think that it must have advanced farther last 

 season than your Kansas correspondent noted. 



Geo. M. Whicher. 



Hastings, Neb., Oct. 25. 



Queries. 



16. Pennsylvania POT-HOLES. — Can you tell me where I 

 can find an account of the glacial pot-hole noticed in your ' Notes ' 

 in No. 246? I presume it may be in some volume of the Second 

 Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, but I do not know which one. 

 Perhaps some of your readers can say, if you cannot. 



Joseph F.James. 



Oxford, O., Oct. 23. 



17. Does Bituminous Coal contain any Bitumen.' — 

 Many text-books and dictionaries define bituminous coal as con- 

 taining bitumen, and mislead the student into the belief that its 

 name is due to this fact. In Vol. VI., ' Encyclopsedia Britannica,' 

 ninth edition, Mr. H. Baurerman, F.G.S., Royal School of Mines, 

 says on p. 46, under the subject coal, " The most important class 

 of coals is that generally known as bituminous, from their prop- 

 erty of softening, or undergoing an apparent fusion, when heated 

 to a temperature far below that at which actual combustion takes 

 place. This term is founded on a misapprehension of the nature of 

 the occurrence, since, although the softening takes place at a low 

 temperature, still it marks the point at which destructive distilla- 

 tion commences, and hydrocarbons both of solid and gaseous 

 character are formed. That nothing analogous to bitumen ex- 

 ists in coals, is proved by the fact that the ordinary solve}its''for 

 bituminous substances, such as bisulphide of carbon, and benzole, 

 have no effect upon them, as would be the case if they contained 

 bitumen soluble in these re-agents. The term is, however, a con- 

 venient one, and one whose use is almost a necessity from its hav- 

 ing an almost universal currency among coal-miners." Impressed 

 with the above statement, and recognizing its importance to 

 teachers of science especially, I call attention to it, under the head 

 of ' Queries,' that hereafter truth shall be taught, and not error. I 

 sometimes entertain a suspicion that many errors continue to be 

 accepted as facts, because writers simply copy from their prede- 

 cessors, instead of actually testing or proving them to be facts. 



George Glenn Wood, M.D. 



Munc^y, Penn., Oct. 28. 



