~ 
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It appears probable that the plant organism effects the conversion of 
the glucose into cane-sugar by combination with the elements of water. 
The foregoing shows "how wasteful is the practice common in some 
parts of India, of reserving whole canes for seed purposes instead of 
utilising only the upper portions of the plants, the West Indian method, 
as pointed out by Mr. Goodridge (see the Society Pr Peel September 
1885), “ The West Indian planter w would consider it pure waste to u 
* his mature cane for seed [plantin the tope are се іу 
** cut off, the stems and blades are used as fodde er, and the cane tops, 
* about a foot long, are carefully prese med in trash, till the time for 
* sowing arrives Mr. Goodridge remar that besides saving the 
mature cane for the mill the ре of Us for ptu had other consider- 
able advantages which he point 
In connexion with the subject, dd following mcm from a note by 
Mr. J. J. Wi lisin the Gardener's Chronicle for the 12th July is of 
interest :—© In experiments at Rothamsted with the sugar-yielding root 
* crops, it was found that there was more sugar produced the larger the 
* amount of nitrogen applied as a manure, although not in proportion 
“ to the amount supplied. Also that the efficiency of a given supply of 
“ Taking the mean of many investigations in which potash formed an 
* ingredient in the manurial supply, it was found that 11. of nitrogen 
* in manure yielded 20 Ibs. of sugar. 
From the very remarkably research of Brown and Morris “on the 
germination of some of the Graminex,” in the process of malting the 
conversion of starch into cane-sugar appears to be S ss ated and the 
glucose stage to altogether disappear. It should be explained that 
in the seed of the barley there is a large store of tarth external to the 
embryo. The latter grows at the expense of his store, and of course to 
feed it the starch has to be converted into a s 
The authors state :—“ We cannot avoid om conclusion that trans- 
* formed starch is absorbed from the endosperm by the columnar opi- 
* thelium of the embryo in the form of maltose, and that this maltose, by 
“ the more or less complicated metabolic processes of the living cells of 
= the eam is rapidly converted into cane-sugar.” 
e have been able to demonstrate in a very striking manner the 
ability of the growing tissue of the embryo to convert maltose into 
cane-sugar. This was done by cultivating the excised bepa of 
barley upon a solution of maltose, and determining the cane-sugar in 
the plantlets after such cultivation. Although under these са 
sta: cane-sugar may be found within the embryo, not a trace ca 
discovered in the стат medium itself, which we should ая Tš the 
maltose were edes by the action of any secreted ferm 
“ When, on the other hand, embryos are grown орой: solutions of 
abr [seo] instead of maltose, no cane-sugar is formed in their 
es." 
“Their researches further point to the conclusion which botanists are 
quite ready to accept, that cane-sugar is the diffusible carbg-hydrate which 
is most easily reconverted into starch and therefore cellulose. The 
object of the sugar-cane and of grasses generally in storing up a large 
quantity of cane-sugar in their tissues is to pr for the great demands 
of flowering and the ie crt e maturation of the That the 
sugar-cane has for the most part become sterile in cultivation does not - 
affect the point ; the physiological habit remains, though the ultimate 
