200 GIBBS. 



The usual precautions were taken in collecting these samples. The 

 preservative was, in each case, put into the bottle before it was placed 

 in position to catch the sap dropping from the severed flower stalk. It 

 is to be noted that the samples from Tayabas Province show considerably 

 more inversion than those from the tree in Laguna. This is accoimted 

 for, in part, by the time which elapsed between the collection of the 

 samples and their arrival at the laboratory in Manila, due to the distance 

 and poor transportation facilities. This, however, does not preclude the 

 possibility of inhibiting the action of the invertase during transit. 



Prom a study of the table it is seen that a fresh sap of the best quality 

 has about the following composition: 



Density g 



1.0700 



Total solids 



17.50 



Ash 



0.45 



Acidity 



Trace. 



Sucrose 



16.50 



Reducing sugars 



Small amounts or traces. 



Undetermined solids 



0.55 



STARCH OF THE SUGAR PALM. 



The natives of certain parts of the islands, principally the Mangyans, 

 a hill tribe of the Island of Mindoro, extract the starch from this palm 

 and use it as a staple article of food. They transport it to the lowlands 

 in baskets of palm leaves (see illustration, Plate XVIII) where it is sold 

 and traded for other articles. I am indebted to Hugo Miller, of the 

 School of Commerce, for the following description of the native method 

 of starch manufacture and for samples of the starch: 



"After felling the palm the leaves and bark are removed and the fibrous in- 

 terior which contains the starch, is chopped into small pieces and worked in 

 water to separate the starch from the fiber. The aqueous fluid, which is now 

 milky in appearance due to starch in suspension, is strained through sinamay °° 

 or bamboo baskets and conducted through bamboo tubes into settling vessels. 

 The water is drawn off and the starch dried. The starch is light yellow or 

 brown in color, depending upon the degree of purity. Wet pellets of the starch 

 will turn to a kind of sago upon dropping onto hot iron plates." 



Photographs of the starch made with polarized and nonpolarized 

 light are shown in Plates XIX and XX. 



Analyses of two samples of starch of native manufacture are as 

 follows : 



" A stiff, open-weave cloth made in the Philippines ; it is composed wholly or in 

 part of Manila hemp fiber. 



