408 
RESEARCHES ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE IN 
MAURITIUS, AND THE MODIFICATIONS IT UNDERGOES 
DURING MANUFACTURE. 
BY DR. ICERY. 
President of the Chamber of Agriculture. 
Translated by James Morris, Esq., Representative of the Chamber of Agriculture 
of Mauritius. 
(Continued from page 427.) 
IV. Mineral Substances. 
After numerous analyses I estimate the quantity of mineral salts con- 
tained in the juice of those canes best fitted for sugar manufacture, at 
2'9 per 1,000 of the liquid. Saline matter, like organic substance, is 
found in a greater proportion in the head than in any other part of the 
cane. The results produced by the analyses of young canes have not 
always confirmed the often-expressed opinion that the salts in the juice 
of the cane are greater in quantity in proportion aS the plant is farthest 
from the period of its development. 
On the contrary, the nature of the soil has appeared to me to have 
in this respect a most marked influence, and it is to this influence that 
the variations stated in the figures representing the saline substances 
ought to be referred. 
The fixed mineral matter contained in cane-juice is principally com- 
posed of potash, soda, lime, and the oxide of iron in the state of carbo- 
nates, chlorides, sulphates, Diphosphates, and silicates, with which are 
found blended salts of alumina and magnesia. The following analysis 
made of the ashes of a great number of juices, extracted from canes of 
different species, and cultivated in soils of a different nature, may be con- 
sidered as resuming the proportions in which those substances are found 
which are the most important to be determined : — 
Potash and soda 18-83 
Lime 8-34 
Oxide of iron ..... 1*99 
Silica 11-48 
Alumina, magnesia, and \ 
acids, in combination > . . 5936 
with the above bases ) 
100-00 
The plantations of Mauritius having been on two different occasions 
compromised by the profound changes which, in the first instance 
necessitated the Otahite cane to be abandoned ; and in the second instance, 
a few years ago, forced upon the planters the more moderate and rational 
use of the Bellouguet variety of cane, it seemed to me an interesting 
