ALCOHOL 19 
material per gallon of spirit, are shown 
in the following tabulation for different 
degrees of juice extraction. 
Yields of Alcohol From Sorghum Stalks 
With Varying Degrees of Juice 
Extraction 
Proportion of Yield of 180° Cost of 
juice extracted alcohol per ton material 
from stalks of cleaned stalks per galion 
Per Cent Gallons Cents 
65 Lae 15.92 18 85 
70 17.15 17 50 
75 . Lae 18 35 16 35 
Since the gums and slimy bodies con- 
tained in sorghum juice do not interfere 
in the least with its fermentation, and 
the plant can be grown readily over a 
very wide range of territory, it is plain 
that the material deserves favorable con- 
sideration in connection with the manu- 
facture of alcohol, and that it is likely 
to be utilized in the future in this way. 
Sugar Beets—The following figures rel- 
ative to the composition of the sugar beet 
may be considered as a representative 
analyses: (1) 
Per cent. 
Water oon. cececccee ccssseeee weceeeeeseeeeeee ww. 81.51 
ASD oie cecccccesecceeseecceseee cone e cnaeeees .62 
Protein ooo lee eee cceeee cece ene ee ceceeeereeee 1.72 
Is 0 6) <> 1.35 
Pat oie ccc cecec cece ee ceenceeceneccceereeusceeseeeeas 07 
Carbohydrates ..........0 2.0. ceeeeeeeeeeeeeee 14.73 
0) oe ee 100.00 
The records of several experimental 
fields cultivated at the agricultural ex- 
periment stations in California, Colorado, 
Michigan and Wisconsin show sugar per- 
centages running from 13 to 16. Fourteen 
per cent will probably be a fair commer- 
cial average for the content of ferment- 
able material in sugar beets as grown at 
present. 
In France, where the beet has been 
used extensively as a source of alcohol, 
it has been found necessary to extract 
the juice for fermentation, using one of 
the extraction methods employed in the 
sugar factories. The pulp, while it offers 
no obstacle to fermentation, forms a jelly 
on heating which interferes seriously with 
(1) Twelfth Annual Report Indiana Agricul- 
Led 
tural Experiment Station, 1899, p. 71. 
distillation. Data obtained from the re- 
sults of actual distillery vields show that 
for every 100 pounds of sugar contained 
in the beets entering the French dis- 
tilleries, seven and one-tenth gallons of 
absolute alcohol were produced, equiva- 
lent to eight gallons at 180-degree proof, 
which is the minimum strength used in 
this country for denaturing purposes. 
With beets at $4.75 to $5 per ton, the 
price commonly paid by sugar factories 
in this country, and a sugar content of 
14 per cent, the raw material needed to 
produce a gallon of 180-degree alcohol 
would represent a value of 22 cents. Un- 
der present conditions this probably would 
be a prohibitive price, but the time may 
come when beets will be used as a source 
of alcohol in the United States as they 
are in Europe. 
Sugar Cane—Spencer gives the follow- 
ing figures as the average of about 40 
cane-juice analyses made at the Mag- 
nolia Plantation, Louisiana: 
Per cent. 
Water Lk nee eco) weasaaeesteneeccecuceees 83.6 
Sucrose < eneetanee ewsesuae cetcesecuceeceecces 14.1 
Reducing SUSATS on... eee ce ceeeteneeee nee 6 
Undetermined solids 22... 2 ......2.0-- 1.7 
Ota] . ceeeeces ce ceeeeevcc cece ceseeeeeceuweeens 100.0 
On the presumption that 72 per cent of 
the total weight of the sugar cane can be 
obtained by two pressings, as juice of 
this composition, a ton of cane should 
yield 16.7 gallons of alcohol. If cane is 
worth from $3 to $3.25 at the factory, 
this would make the cost of the raw 
material for the alcohol about 19 cents 
per gallon. 
Sugar-corn Cannery Wastes—The stalks 
of the sugar corn contain quite large 
amounts of sugar analyses made in the 
Bureau of Chemistry having disclosed its 
presence in proportions varying between 
7 and 15 per cent. Investigations con- 
ducted at a corn cannery in Illinois, in 
1906, showed that the waste stalks 
amounted to about 40 per cent of the total 
weight of corn brought to the factory, and 
that it was possible to produce from them 
from 6 to 10 per cent of alcohol, with a 
safe average of 8 per cent. On this basis 
about 11 gallons of alcohol should be re- 
