66 o 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXIII, No. 8 
Table III .—Destruction of the pentosans of green corn stover by pure cultures of various 
organisms 
Organism. 
Source. 
Control. 
./ 
41—11. 
l 
Soil.;.| 
Sauerkraut. 
124—2. 
.do.( 
102. 
l 
.do./ 
21. 
l 
Silage.| 
C-26. 
Green com.| 
Bacillus flavigena . 
2 . 
Fermenting cellulose.... j 
.do. 
Streptococcus lactis . 
Milk.| 
Bacillus co li comtnu nis . 
.do./ 
l 
Pentoses destroyed. 
Pentose. 
Gm. 
O. 2146 
.2150 
• 1933 
.2005 
. 2024 
. 2046 
. 2030 
.2095 
. 2058 
. 2111 
. 2101 
.2075 
.1878 
. 1904 
. 1961 
• 1873 
. 1904 
•2159 
.2037 
. 1917 
.1887 
Gm. 
o. 021 < 
.0143 
. 0124 
. 0102 
. 0118 
•OOS 3 
. 0090 
.0037 
.0047 
.0073 
. 0270 
. 0244 
. 0187 
.0275 
. 0244 
. OIII 
.0231 
. 0261 
Per cent. 
10. o 
6.6 
5-7 
4- 7 
5- 4 
2.4 
4.1 
i-7 
2.1 
3*3 
12.5 
ii-5 
8.7 
12. 8 
ii- 5 
5- 1 
10. 7 
12.1 
A series of experiments was carried out with varying amounts of rham- 
nose and arabinose alone and together with 1 gm. of plant material. 
The sugars were dissolved in distilled water, and aliquots representing 
the required amount were added to the plant material. 
The yield of methyl phloroglucid which was obtained did not equal that 
calculated from Krober’s table. However, all of it was extractable with 
hot alcohol. A somewhat larger weight was extracted when the rham- 
nose was added to the corn tissue, indicating the small amount of methyl- 
pentosans in the plant material. The increase, 6 mgm., is approximately 
equal to the phloroglucid extracted in the regular determination. While 
these trials showed considerable variation, it may be assumed that no 
great amount of methyl-phloroglucid was formed and remained unex¬ 
tracted in the regular determinations. The results are given in Table II. 
DESTRUCTION OF PENTOSANS IN PURE CULTURE 
About 50 gm. of corn stover were ground to a fine powder. One gram 
of the air-dried material was weighed into small flasks, 50 cc. of yeast 
water were added, and about 2 gm. of calcium carbonate to alternate 
flasks. The flasks were then sterilized and inoculated. The results are 
given in Table III. 
It is at once apparent that some of the organisms destroyed the pen¬ 
tosans to an appreciable extent. The maximum destruction was accom¬ 
plished with the cellulose fermenter, Bacillus flavigena. Nearly the same 
percentage of pentosans was destroyed by B. coli communis and No. C-26, 
a chromogenic pentose fermenter isolated from green corn tissue. 
