Some Experiments on Sugar Cane. 6i 
soon afterwards for nearly a year put a stop to my experi- 
ments. Within the last few months, however, I have 
received direct from Barbados, samples of cane from 
three different estates, the last of the three having 
been sent in answer to my request for the richest and 
best that could be procured. For those samples I am 
chiefly indebted to Mr. F. I. SCARD, chemist to the Coio- 
at present especially amongst our older planters an impression that the 
extra amount of juice extracted from the canes by increased pressure is 
not so rich in sugars and contains more impurities than that expressed 
at a lower one. This was first explained by Dr. J. D. Maycock, in 
1851-42 who considered that probably the juice in the. sap vessels 
(fibro-vascular tissue) of the canes is not so rich in sugar as that of the 
cellular tissue, and that the walls of the former being very much 
stronger than those of the latter would resist a power that would crush 
and express the juice from the sugar-containing ceHs. That this is 
true was proved by Thomas Kerr, Esq., in experiments made by him in 
fractional crushing of the canes at the Bay Estate in March, 1852. He, 
however, did not appeciate, and neglected to point out, the influence of 
this upon the supposed composition of the canes. Early in last year, 
Mr. E. E. H. Francis, Government Chemist in Demerara, again examined 
into this question and showed conclusively that, in consequence of the 
difference in composition between the juice of the vascular and of the 
cellular tissues, the sugar cane does not contain the proportion of sugar 
which most writers on the subject have credited it with. The results of 
our experiments have fully corroborated Mr. Francis' conclusion, and 
have further shown that this difference is the greater, the less mature 
and complete the growth of the cane, and becoming much less in its 
effects on the composition of the whole cane where the growth has 
been perfected." 
I may mention here that for some years prior to 1885 I was aware 
that the residual juice in megass was less rich in sugar than the juice 
that had been expressed, and consequently I never resorted to calcula- 
tion in lieu of determination in analysing cane. It was only from find- 
ing that my analytical results did not agree with those of other analysts 
that caused me to look into the matter, and then direct attention to the 
fallacy underlying the method of calculation. — E. E. H. F. 
