Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1878-12-05
THE FARM AND HOUSE
- The Cultivation OF ssrshun..n=

Rural New Yorker. t~Ig.a. s--.
The continued high price of sugar
coupled with the fact that the Tnited
States import $75o,ooo,ooo worth annual
ly, gives importance to any. effort which
may, in part of whole, tend to supply
this deficiency. One of the means of in.
creasing the supply of syrup, if not of
sugar, is the cultivation of the sorghum
plant, sorghum sacchartum, now extern
sivt'y introduced all through the central
Western States. Two species of this cane
have been introduced, the true sorghum
from China, and another from Africa,
called imphee; but this is of less value
for cultivation,
Sorghum was first introduced into
Frace in 1851 and into the United States
in 1858, since which time its use has
been extended quite rapidly; machinery
for grinding it has been provided, and
process Of cultivation and evaporation
has become we'll understood. Sorghum
grows on any ground suitable for corn,
but we'll repays high fertility. The plant
resembles Indian corn before its seed
clusters come out, and grows to height
Of from eight to eighteen feet. The cul-
-tivation is the same as for corn; the stalks
are cut Just before frost, the leaves
stripped off for fodder, and the stalks
pressed:
Well ripened stalks yield half their
weight In Juice, and from five to ten gal
Ions of julce are required for one gallon
of syrup. The yield of syrup averages
from $50 to 175 gallons per acre, though
in exceptional cases, the yield is much
larger. The product is chiefly in the
syrrp or glucose used as substitute
for sugar in candies, wines, and for SINH
lar purposes. The product varies much
with the cultivation and care in manu-
facture. The syrup carefully made from
ripe stalks has clear, bright, amber col
or, and is preferable to comm On moles-
lasses. The total amount of sorghum
moiasses produced in the United States
in 1860, was 6,749,123 gallons, and in
1870, 1,050,089, since which time the
product has probably further increased in
the same proportion.
Some growers recommend cutting of
two or three feet Of the top before the
seeds are fully ripe, which gives fuller
ripeness to the stalk, and the part cut of
makes better fodder. This fodder is oil
about three fourths the value of the same
weight of hay. The cane may be crushed
between horizontal rollers as with sugar
cane, but where only small fields arc
raised, an upright mill, run by horse
power, is usually employed. The tota!
cost of al outfit should not exceed 5000.
The fresh juice has greenish-y ellowap
peafance, and an unpleasant odor or flavor
which is reminded by the use of Stacked
lime and constant Swimming during evap
Grafton. When evaporated to a density
! of 49, Baume, it is settled and agar
boiled to 81 or 40 degrees. 1.-THE herba
ceous flavor has not entirely disappeared
fresh addition of Stacked lime are made
| and it is again boiled. Experiments arr
now being made to perfect the crytaliza
ton of sugar from this source, and i
hoped the cultivation of sorghum ma.
become much more widespread than a
present, and that the production of suga
may in this way be proitably transferred
from the tropics to the temperate zones
and from slave to free labor. Certainl
the inhabitants of the United State
should make every effort to extend tn
production Of sugar with their own terri
tory and save the annual expenditure O
$95,000,C0O now paid to the other nation
fol Sugars. S. B.