78 



NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTtiY. 



what conditions this new saccharine plant could be advantageously in- 

 troduced into our country for the purpose of extracting its sugar or for 

 alcoholization, and likewise as fodder for cattle. 



Therefore the Department, in accordance with the resolution of the 

 Chamber, which requested the Government to promote, by every means, 

 the culture of sorghum and the beet-root, decided that a new cultural 

 experiment should be made in 1882, and in the month of March distrib- 

 uted Amber-sorghum seed to all the agrarian stations of Udine, Forli, 

 Firenze, Pnoma, Oaserta, Palermo, to the agrarian schools of Pesaro, 

 Scerni, Portici, Lecce, Oatanzarb, to the Zootechnical School of Oil-mak- 

 ing of Bari, to the Agricultural Colony of San Martino near Palermo, 

 to the Technical Institute of Yiterbo, to the Society of Acclimation of 

 Palermo, and to Professor Missaghi, president of the Vine Culture Com- 

 mission of Cagliari. 



Beside inquiring into the influence exerted by the various climates of 

 Italy upon the cultivation of Amber sorghum, it was desired to know 

 what difference of results would be obtained by using seed imported 

 directly trom Minnesota and the seed reproduced in Italy, which is the 

 most advantageous mode of sowing, to what extent the richness of 

 sucrose varies in the different stages of the vegetable period, and what 

 is the most suitable time for the harvest ; in what proportions and with 

 what degree of rapidity the conversion of sucrose into 'glucose takes 

 place in the gathered stalks; in what climates the Cultivation of Amber 

 sorghum can be carried on with more advantage than that of maize or 

 beets. 



The method of cultivation of the beets and sorghum was written out 

 in detail, so that all the experiments made in different parts of the king 

 dom should be carried on under the same conditions. 



Sam]des for analyses were taken at stated times and by uniform 

 methods; the analyses were all carried on in the same way, and hence 

 the results are strictly comparable. 



The method of analysis was as follows : 



CHEMICAL RESEARCHES ON SORGHUM. 



The juice was extracted by grating the cane and squeezing the pulp 

 obtained by means of a good hand-press. It was found that by opera- 

 ting in this manner there remained in the pulp from one-fifth to one- 

 sixth of the juice, since the sugar which was obtained by diffusion in 

 water varied from one-fifth to one-fourth that contained in the juice ex- 

 tracted. 



The glucose and sucrose were determiued with the cupropotassic 

 reagent of Fehling, the results being controlled with solutions of sugar 

 and with the optical saccharometer. 



