Giuies.—On Sorghum Laperiments. 265 
On 6th April last I received from Mr. Joseph Banks two tons of Early 
Amber cane, topped, but unstripped. Although the seed had so far ripened 
that the birds had nearly stripped it, the cane and leaves were very green 
owing probably to the unusually moist and cold season. Next day I began 
my experiments. I weighed one stalk with leaves on, 1 lb. 5 oz., put it 
through the mill, when the dry residuum (or bagasse) weighed 9 oz., showing 
57 per cent. of juice obtained. As the juice, however, was very green, I slacked 
the mill rollers a little and stripped the cane. An average of 12 canes 
stripped showed 10 lbs. weight or 18:8 oz. per cane. At a later stage of 
crushing I found 82 canes yielded 8 gallons of juice, weighing 11 lbs. per 
gallon or 6:44 oz. juice per cane. This is equal to 488 per cent. of juice to 
cane, but on the total crushing of one ton I actually realized only 41:25 per 
cent. or 84 gallons. This I crushed at the rate of 12 gallons per hour, but in 
my subsequent crushings, with a faster walking horse, I made 21 gallons per 
hour. The juice was caught from the mill in graduated galvanized iron buckets 
and poured at once into the boiler ; it showed a density of 11 at a temperature 
of 66° F. The fresh juice did not affect blue litmus, but after standing for 
an hour or two in the boiler it made the litmus a deep indigo colour. an 
weather in the afternoon was very wet, and as I had no shelter for the canes, 
they were wet while passing through the mill, thereby to some slight extent 
affecting the juice. In consequence of the rain I did not proceed to boil 
and evaporate till next morning. I then found the juice from the top of 
the boiler weigh 101b. 10 oz. per gallon, owing no doubt to part of the solid 
matter having settled to the bottom. The litmus showed a blue purple 
colour. Having lit the fire (of Kamo coal) I kept the juice constantly 
skimmed throughout the whole process. When the thermometer indicated 
150° F., I added about one quart of cream of lime, stirring it well into the 
juice. My impression now is that I added too much lime, and that it was 
not of proper quality. I could not obtain pure shell lime, and had to use 
Mahurangi hydraulic lime, recently slaked, which I found by another ex- 
periment rendered the juice acrid. One hour and a quarter from the fire 
being lit, the juice was boiling. Having allowed it to boil for a few minutes, 
I drew the fire and allowed the juice to settle. Having allowed sufficient 
time for that purpose, I began to draw off into the evaporator, but finding a 
good deal of sedimentary matter still in the juice, and my stopcocks not 
working properly, I was obliged to dip out the hot juice with buckets and 
strain it through a clean cornsack into the evaporator. It was then clear 
and of a dark amber colour. Not wishing to allow the temperature 
to get below 150° F., I did not take all the juice from the boiler, 
only about 50 to 55 gallons, and at once started the fire under the 
evaporator. I then added sulphurous acid until litmus began to redden. 
