234 EDITORIAL. 



which contains neither starch nor sugar but a number of other ferment- 

 able carbohydrates of which inxilin and levulin are the principal con- 

 stituents has been highly recommended and rather extensively used in 

 Germany for the manufacture of alcohol.'* At the present time alcohol 

 is made on a large commercial scale from corn, rye, potatoes, sugar beets, 

 sugar cane, and sugar-cane molasses. Rice has the largest percentage 

 of starch among the cereals, Init it is not the cheapest source of alcohol. 

 Indian corn, which hitherto has formed the chief raw material for 

 fermentation and distillation, contains approximately 70 per cent of 

 fermentable bodies and under the best conditions a kilo of corn will 

 usually yield about 340 grams of alcohol (420 cubic centimeters of 95 

 per cent alcohol by volume at 15° C). If the average price of corn 

 be placed at 3 centavos per kilo and the cost of manufacture, storage, 

 profit, etc., be taken as an equal amount, industrial alcohol (95 per cent) 

 from this source, untaxed, would sell wholesale for about 14 centavos 

 a liter." 



Germany 

 Cuba 

 France 

 England 

 United States 



Besides rice, Indian corn, and sugar cane, the available sources from 

 which alcohol can be manufactured in this Archipelago are the sap of 

 many palms and the cassava. At present nearly all of the alcohol 

 produced comes from the bled sap of the nipa and other palms.' Alcohol 

 from the nipa has a disagreeable odor whicli is somewhat difficult to 

 remove, but for industrial piirposes this would be of no consequence. 

 A description of this palm {Nipa fruticans Wurmb.) may be found iu 

 many places.^ It is a species widely distributed all the way from India 

 to Malaya, in northern Australia and Polynesia. A very detailed study of 

 the culture and bleeding of this palm has been published by Ayala & Co.^ 



The nipa grows in low, salt-water 'tidal swamps and the plant is completely 

 developed in about four years after planting the seed. The palms, fruit about 

 every two years, at no particular season. When the tree is ready to bleed, the 



"Wiley, H. W.: Farm. Bvll. U. S. Dept. Agr. (1906), 268, 14. 



° The following retail prices and annual consumption of denatured alcohol 

 (approximately 95 per cent) are calculated from data given by R. F. Herrick 

 {Teehnol. Quart. (1908), 21, 7 to 9): 



'During the fiscal year 1907-8, the figures of the Bureau of Internal Revenue 

 show that the production from all sources was equivalent to about 4J million 

 liters of 95 per cent alcohol. There were practically no exports. 



"Hooker, Fl. lirit. /«rf. (1892), 6, 424; Blanco, 7.7. Filip. (1837), 662; Ed. 2 

 (1845), 461. 



"Conrado, A., and Zobel, E., Estudio de la Planta Nipa, Manila (1906). 



Retail price 



per liter, 

 in centavos. 



Annunl 

 consumption 

 (million liters) 



16 



140 



21 





23 



40 





15 



32 



13 



