42 
Bulletin 58. 
§ 77. The expressed juice of the leaves was subjected to fer¬ 
mentation and subsequent distillation. Two thousand seven hun¬ 
dred and forty-nine grams of juice, expressed from fresh leaves, 
stems and blades being used, received a quantity of compressed 
yeast and was allowed to stand 36 hours at a temperature of from 
26° to 31° C., after which it was subjected to distillation. A blank 
test was made as a control. The results showed the probability of 
fermentable sugars in very small quantities in the juice of the 
leaves. 
§ 78. A larger quantity, 30 pounds, of stems of leaves were 
gathered October 20, 1899, when the deposition of sugar was sup¬ 
posed to be active, dried quickly, ground, and subsequently ex¬ 
tracted with 80 per cent, alcohol. The alcohol was distilled off and 
the extract concentrated, a little ammonia being added from time 
to time. The fluid extract was treated repeatedly with ether to re¬ 
move the chlorophyll, etc.; an aliquot part of it was taken and 
treated with lead acetate, the sugars inverted by hydrochloric acid, 
determined by Fehling’s solution and calculated as sucrose. The 
total sugars found corresponded to 0.28 per cent, calculated on the 
green stems. The inversion was quite difficult to effect, much more 
so than the inversion of pure solutions of cane sugar. 
§79. The fourth method followed was that of Brown and 
Morris, i. e., extraction with ether, and solution of sugars in alcohol; 
treatment with lead acetate, removal of lead ; determination of 
glucose by means of Fehling’s solution ; inversion of maltose by 
means of invertin, and inversion of all of the invertible sugars by 
hydrochloric acid. 
§ 80. A sample of leaves, Kleinwanzlebener variety, gathered 
September 2, 9 a. m., when the beets were growing vigorously, gave 
the following results : 
Glucose_0.156 per cent. 
Maltose_0.030 per cent. 
Sucrose_0.000 per cent. 
Total_0.186 per cent. 
Kleinwanzlebener, leaves gathered September 22, 9 a. m. : 
Glucose_0.801 per cent. 
Maltose_0.023 per cent. 
Sucrose_0.064 per cent. 
Total 
..-0.888 per cent. 
