white worm, enemy of the
beet, has been artificially cultivated. As soon as the worm is
attacked, the ravage continues until the entire body of the insect is
one mass of micro-organisms. Spores during this period are constantly
formed. If it were possible to spread this disease in districts
infected by the white worm, great service could be rendered to beet
cultivation.

In sugar refining it is frequently desirable to determine the
viscosity of sirups, molasses, etc. Methods founded upon the rapidity
of flow through an orifice of a known size are not mathematical in
their results. A very simple plan, more accurate than any hitherto
thought of, is attracting some attention. Sensitive scales and a
thermometer suspended in a glass tube are all the apparatus necessary.
The exact weight of thermometer, with tube, is determined; they are
immersed in water and weighed for the second time; the difference in
weight before and afterward gives the weight of adhering water. If the
operation is repeated in molasses, we in the same way obtain the
weight of adhering liquid, which, if divided by the weight of adhering
water, gives the viscosity as compared with water.

Sugar refineries located at Marseilles claim that it is cheaper for
them to purchase sugar in Java than beet sugar of northern Europe. On
the other hand, the argument of Paris refiners is just the reverse.
The total refined sugar consumed is 375,000 tons, the colonial and
indigenous production of raw sugar is nearly 1,000,000 tons more than
sufficient to meet the demands of the entire refining industry of the
country. There appears to have been considerable manipulation, foreign
sugar being imported with the view of producing a panic, followed by a
decline of market prices, after which Marseilles refiners would buy.
All sound arguments are in favor of protecting the home sugar
industry.

It has been suggested that manufacturers weigh the fuel used more
carefully than hitherto; the extra trouble would soon lead to economy
for all interested in sugar production at ruinous cost. Some chemists
advocate that coal be purchased only after having been analyzed.
Efforts to have a unification in methods of analysis of all products
of factory is a move in the right direction; the Association of Sugar
Chemists have adopted a series of methods that are in the future to be
considered as standard.

Copper solutions are destined to render great service in the
destruction of micro-