218 



SUGAE. 



The price for the solid sugars was 24 fr. 12 c, for molasses 

 22 fr. 62 c, for the coloured sugars 26 fr. 25 c. 



In the United States a large quantity of glucose is made from 

 maize. Those who are interested in the chemical manufactui-e of 

 this product will find full details given in my ' Journal of Applied 

 Science,' vol. i. p. 181, and vol. iv. p. 38. 



The cultivation of potatoes, for the purpose of obtaining their 

 starch, covers a large extent of territory on the Continent. The 

 method pursued in nearly all of the refineries is identical. The wet 

 starch is first put in a large mash-tub, where, under constant stirring 

 for an hour, it is entirely dissolved in water and dilute acid. From 

 the mash-tub it is run in vats, where it can be boiled by steam ; here 

 it remains if for sugar four or five hours, for syrup two or three 

 hours. It is then put into the neutralizing tanks, to be treated with 

 carbonate of lime, and left until the sediment, chiefly composed of 

 gypsum, has settled — this usually requires six hours. The sweet 

 liquid thus obtained is evaj)orated in vacuum pans, filtered, and left 

 to crystallize, if sugar is to be made, or is else manufactured into 

 syrup. The great increase in the vine-growing districts of America 

 has occasioned an enlarged demand for glucose, and the manufacture 

 of this article appears destined to assume very large proportions in 

 the United • States, where Indian corn can be obtained in unlimited 

 quantity at a very low price. 



SORGHUM SUGAE. 



Attempts have been made from time to time to introduce and 

 extend the cultivation for sugar of a species of millet or sweet 

 cane, the Sorglium saccliaratum, Pers., Andropogon saccharatus, Eoxb. 

 This grass, allied to the Sorghum vulgare, or Dhurra plant of North 

 Africa and the Guinea corn of the West Indies, is grown in the 

 north of China for the extraction of sugar. In New South Wales it 

 has been found to stand frost better than the sugar-cane proper, and 

 is little affected by floods. It comes to matui'ity in five months, and 

 therefore may be employed as an interval crop, alternating with sugar- 

 cane, and keeping the sugar mills going. In 1868 there were 296 acres 

 planted with sorghum imphee in various districts, but in 1872 this was 

 reduced to 32 acres. Present experiments lead the growers to expect 

 from If to 2 tons of sugar to the acre. When not grown for sugar, 

 the plant yields abundance of valuable food for cattle, at the rate of 

 30 to 40 tons of cane per acre. 



In France M. Vilmoren states that it is capable of yielding on an 

 average, from an acre of land, 26,000 lbs. of juice, containing from 

 10 to 13 per cent, of sugar ; and that this is more than the average 

 yield of the sugar beet. It is alleged, however, that the plant is 

 adapted to only a few parts of the south of France. 



Mr. Leonard Wray asserts that some of the varieties of Sorghum 

 which he introduced from Natal gave 30 cwts. of sugar per acre, that 

 it has yielded from a poor handmill 68 per cent, of juice, containing 

 15 per cent, of sugar. Where the sugar-cane has yielded 30 it has 

 given 25, but then there is often a second and a third crop to be 



