The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1857-01-01

Mr.. EDIroRiSYour number of the 18th of last
month contains a communication from a correspond
ent ON Maui, purporting to be on the Chinese sugar
grass. The description of the characters of the plant
in your correspondents possession, his remarks about
its usefulness for various economical purposes, its
great fertility and productiveness, it's hardness and
peculiar adaptation to our climate are very correct,
and worthy of the greatest attention of our agricul-
tursts-only they do not refer to the Chinese sugar
grass, but to another cereal, the seeds Of which ]
received last year under the name of Guinea corn.
1t came from the Bahama Islands, where it is said to
be cultivated principally for feeding poultry. I take
it to be the AndropOgon Sorgum, (sorgum vulgare,
holcus sorgum), a kind Of millet, cultivated in most
parts Of Africa, and here and there in Italy. Pro-
badly it is the anne plant, now well known in the
Southern States of the Union as Durrah corn or
Egyptian millet. [ feel glad to see most of its excel
lent qualities so prominently pointed out by your cor
respondent-but he ought not to have omitted that,
when ground, the seeds furnish a most ~palatable and
sweet flour, which, in all probability, can be made
to serve for all the different appliances as article Of
food, as the maize or Indian corn. In fact, [ think
it will take, on our islands, the place of the latter
of the impossibility to raise which proftably, our
farmers by this time must have become convinced to
snficiency. AS fodder for cattle however, / think it
is greatly excelled by the Chinese sugar grass, sorgum
sacchar., or holcus sacchar., (the botanical termin-
ology seems to be somewhat confused ON this plant !;
the one in my possession certainly is a sorgum)
which, for this purpose, [ recommend most earnestly
to landowners in the neighborhOod of Honolulu.
With such prices as grass for horses commands here,
q few acres planted with sugar grass must yield a
modest mans competency. The seeds of this plant
ore likewise good for poultry. The amount OF sugar III
its stalks is very notable, although not equal to the
sugar-cane however, molasses and crystalised sugar
have been prepared from it. This China sugar grass
must not be confounded with another saccharine
grass recently brought from Port Natal to France,
whose amount of sugar is said to be very great, so as
to bid fair to rival the cane, and which has the adj
vantage to be cultivable In temperate ATTITUDES. as it
reaches maturity in 3 or 4 months, as does also the
Chinese grass. It's native African name is I'm.
umwina. I shall take pains to procure seeds of it.
Samples of the Guinea corn and Chinese sugar grass
were exhibited by me at the last Agricultural Fair,
but the respective committee only took notice of the
latter. have distributed already seeds of both kinds
to various persons over all the islands, and am ready
to furnish them to any one who is willing to try them
/ will, however, warn in advance, that both exhaust
the soil quickly.
AS I once have got in the train of writing, allow
me, by clipping an extract from the Southern Guilt
rator, to call the attention of your readers to the
great value of a tree which is growing in abundance
among usl mean the Pride of India, or China tree,
Media Azedarach). A Texas correspondent of said
paper writes
Few persons know its value 1t is generally