324 TlMEHRI. 
delivered at the cane carrier — I say delivered at the 
cane carrier — because this is the only place where a true 
example of cane can be got. 
Mr. Russell said : — Mr. President and Gentlemen, I 
was unavoidably absent from the meeting of the Society 
last month, when Mr. Francis read his admirable paper 
on the constituents of the sugar cane as found by him on 
careful analysis. Such a paper with the contained 
information would be of great value at any time, but 
more particularly so at the present when our attention 
has been again drawn to the importance of better ex- 
traction of sugar from the cane. The results arrived at 
by Mr. Francis have not surprised me in the least, for 
I have for many years been aware that the analysis 
of sugar cane as set forth in books does not agree 
with what is found in actual working in this colony. 
Long before the advent of recognised analytical 
chemists, I discovered, in working on a large scale, that 
15 0/0 sugar in the cane juice extracted was above the 
average; this with 10/0 wood in the cane meant 13*5 0/0 
sugar in the cane on old lines. As in those days 60 0/0 
crushing was considered above the average this repre- 
sented 9 0/0 of sugar extracted, leaving apparently 4*5 0/0 
combined with megass, or 50 0/0 of what was extracted. 
To recover this loss, gave rise to greater power being 
exerted with stronger mills to bear the increased strain. 
Passing the megass a second time through the same 
mill, more tightly screwed up, gave but indifferent 
results. The megass became more finely cut up, but the 
yield of juice was so small that it made the game not 
worth the candle. Finding the megass on handling to 
have that peculiar sticky feel indicative of sugar, I 
