Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1877-10-31
CARBOHYDRATES and Albuminoids.

II is difficult, and indeed often impossible,
for farmers who do not know the meaning
of chemical terms to understand some of
the most useful pieces that appear in the
agricultural journals. We have recently, in
a series of articles upon Essential Fer
tilizers," tried to make plain the facts in re-
gard to the kinds of plant-food which must
be supplied to our crops in the form of
manures or fertilizers. Especially in refer
ence TO that sort of plantfood variously re-
ferred to by writers as "nitrogen," "the nitro
genous element" "nitrates," ammonia"
is there a confusion. in the minds of many,
which we tried in those articles to remove.
But chemical facts, chemical ideas and
chemical language are also brought into use
in a puzzling way in reference to the feed
ing of animals, as we'll as of plants. The
terms placed at the head of this article are
now in very common use in scientific writ
ing relative to the intelligent and profitable
feeding of various nutritive substances to
farm stock.
BY carbohydrates is meant the sugary,
starchy and woody portions of the food of
our live stock. In association with these,
and of similar elementary composition, are
the oily and fatty matters of the feed. Both
the carbohydrates and the fats are composed
of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Their
difference consists in this, that in the carbo-
hydrates the hydrogen and oxygen are first
combined to form water, and then the water
is combined with carbon to form the sugar,
starch or woody FIBRE But in the fats there
is no separate union of the oxygen and hy-
drogen. They do not exist there in the pro-
portions TO form water. In the plant the
carbohydrates are easily changed, one into
the other, by the addition or subtraction of
portion of the water they contain. The
carbohydrates are also changed, in the
plant into oils or fats by a subtraction of
part of the oxygen. This change takes
place in the animal also, so that the sugar
and starch in their food are changed to fat
in the blood
These changes in the carbohydrates are
shown as follows: Grape sugar, or fruit
sugar, which is the lowest or weakest of the
carbohydrates, is composed of carbon ~
(parts or atoms), hydrogen "a, oxygen r.
1.-TWO atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen
form water, so that H2iO12 really repre-
sents the twelve parts of water, which are
united with the twelve parts of carbon to
make fruit suear) Bv the taking away of
comes cane sugar (same as maple and beet
sugar. and is represented chemically by
Cl2H22O11 Take away another part of
water and we have starch, represented by
the formula C12H2OOlO.
Woody fibre is similar in composition to
starch. and thus we see how trees and plants
are built up as they grow. First the carbon
absorbed by the leaves is united to the water
absorbed by the roots to form the lowest
carbohydrate. This is deprived of por-
ton of water to form cane sugar. which re-.
mains dissolved in the surplus water. If
we draw this out at the right time. as we
do when we tap the NAPLES in spring. we
can evaporate the water and obtain the sugar.
It will puzzle some readers to understand
how the grape sugar can be deprived of a
part of its water to form cane sugar. and
yet the latter be dissolped in water. 1t will
help to understand this if we refer to an
illustration that is familiar to many. When
mortar is made, water is thrown upon quick
lime to "slack (" it. We can put on con-
e;loro ll ,,o .or all ,,t .ho I;,.,o ,,,;Il H. =.
dry powder when "sacked" We can then
mix more water with it, to make mortar.
The first water combines chemically with the
lime but that which is added afterwards is
merely mixed with it, and will dry out when
the mortar is applied to a wall. So the
water that is Joined to the carbon to make
sugar is chemically united with it, but the
sap.water in which the sugar is dissolved is
only mired with it, and can be dried out of
it in the sap pan or evaporator, Just as the
uncombined water of the mortar dries out on
the wall.
AS fruit sugar is converted into cane SUI
gar by the removal of one proportion OF
water, so cane sugar becomes starch by the
removal of another proportion of water. This
occurs in grain, where the sugar of the green
corn becomes the starch Of the ripe corn
In what is called sweet corn this change
takes place imperfectly.
Woody fibreis only another form of starch
or at least their chemical composition is the
same. Chemists have found out how t.
i,nitata natura and chanu. ataroh into frn;,