THE IMPURITIES OF THE CANE- JUICE DESCRIBED. 



ST 



which, per se, is pure sugar and water, and fragments 

 of the solid portion of the cane, separated by the same 

 cause. They may be briefly classed as, First, Soluble salts, 

 composed commonly of chlorides of sodium and potassium, 

 sulphates of potash and lime, bisilicate of potash and 

 alumina, &c. Second, Azotised compounds, concerning 

 the exact varieties of which much difference of opinion 

 exists among scientific persons. Third, Non-azotised vege- 

 table proximate principles. Fourth, A highly deliques- 

 cent substance, observed and described by Hervey. Fifth, 

 Particles of the solid structure of the cane, which have 

 been separated by the force of the pressure employed in 

 procuring the juice, and which consist of the ligneous 

 matter composing the cellular and vascular tissues, and 

 portions of the rind, particles of chlorophylie, (or the 

 green colouring matter of the buds and leaves which is 

 diffused through the structure of the cane near its rind or 

 surface,) and of a kind of wax called by the French chem- 

 ists, cerosie or cerosine. 



The quantity of saline matter varies much in canes 

 grown in different localities, and abounds most in 

 those which are over-manured, or grown in soils con- 

 taining much potash or soda, which substances, although 

 they stimulate the rapid vegetation of the cane, exert 

 an injurious influence on the conversion of its juice 

 into sugar, from the excess in which they exist in it. 

 Canes grown under such circumstances are always soft and 

 watery, delicate in their structure, apt to lodge and rot 



