220 PLANT AND ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 
juices from unstripped cane are inferior to mill juice in all of 
these respects. 
“As a result of these experiments, it was claimed that 
leaves, leaf-sheaths, and seed were the chief obstacles to the 
introduction of diffusion. This claim was admitted by Mr. 
Potts, and Mr. Hughes was directed to construct his strip¬ 
ping machine.” 1 
“A further fact, which is illustrated by the analyses of the 
diffusion juices from uninjured canes is, that the diminished 
purity is produced solely by the extraction of gum and chloro¬ 
phyll, chiefly from the blades and sheaths, and that this 
injury can be avoided by a proper cleaning of the canes.” 2 
From tables of comparative analyses, showing the average 
composition for each variety of sorghum in every stage of its 
growth, it is seen that “in the earlier stages in the growth of 
each plant, the amount of crystallizable sugar is small, but 
as the plants mature, the sucrose rapidly increases, until it 
equals from twelve to sixteen per cent, of juice. The solids, 
not sugar, in the juice also increase from the first, but very 
much less rapidly than does the crystallizable sugar; at the 
same time, the glucose steadily diminishes.” 3 
The habits of some varieties of sorghum and their demands 
upon climate and soil are almost identical with those of the 
several varieties of maize, and yet there appears to be, in cer¬ 
tain respects, marked differences. The sorghums, as a class, 
are capable of sustaining a period of drought which would prove 
fatal to maize. 4 
The root system of sorghum renders it peculiarly adapted 
to growing upon poorer lands than other kinds of crops, es¬ 
pecially if the subsoil is sufficiently rich in nutritive matter to 
give to the plant its needed food supply. 
The chemical analyses of the sorghum may be made from 
the expressed juice or directly from the cane. Numerous 
investigations have been conducted in both ways. 
1 Bui. XLI, 1887, p. 4. 2 Bui. 14, p. 40. 
3 Spec. Rep. No. 33, Dept, of Agr., 1881, p. 11. 
4 Investigation of Sorghum as a Sugar-producing Plant , Dept, of Agr. 
Peter Collier. 
