Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-02-28
AGRICULTURAL. A
soRGHAM AND CoRNsTALK SUGAR.
Prot. Iouier's ErD,rinei,fs

| fgs 'p~Nf y Id l't'WtfuS.
That sugar can be made from the swee
juices of the Sorghum and Indian Corn is,
of course, no new discovery. Twenty year.
ago sugar was made from Sorghum in consid
cradle quantities. and mony people though
that the Sorghum was destined, if not tc
supe rsede the sugar cane, at least to become
an important source of supply of sugar and
molasses. 1t was announced some months
since that Prof. Peter Collier, Chemist OF the
Agricultural Bureau at Washington, was ex.
perimenting on the production of sugar from
Sorghum and Maize and in recent letter
Prof. b, Siliman gives some statements oi
the results reached:
The maize employed was the common field
| corn, said to have been cross between a
yellow and white variety, the ears fine, which
had been plucked and sold i'll the Washing
| ton market some three weeks before the stalks
| were used by Professor Collier for the max
ing OF sugar. Both corn and sorghum were
in condition of vigorous green growth
when cut. The seed of the sorghum was
mature enough to shell out when handled.
Mr.. Commissioner lie Due mentions the diff
fculty experienced i'll finding any farmer
| near Washington who was willing TO under
! take the planting and culture Of the Mime
sofa early amber sorghum, and the result was
that the plants at length obtained were very
imperfectly cultivated and had not developed
half their proper size With well-grown sor-
| ghum the product OF sugar would no doubt
be increased. The process made use OF i'll
these experiments was, in its essential fea-
| tures the one recently patented by Mr. +. L..
| Stewart, of Pennsylvania.
Experiment No. 10, with sorghum syrup,
yielded BIG per cent. of sugar ponrizing "a
| degrees, and Co. per cent. of syrup polariz-
| ing 43 degrees. Experiment No. = with
maize syrup yielded 81 per cent. of sugar
| polarizing 30 degrees and Gs per cent. of
syrup polarizing 80 degrees. Experiment
! No with sorghum syrup yielded 81 3 per
cent. of sugar pClarizing 81 degrees, and GS.7
per cent. OF syrup polarizing 43 degrees. MIR.
Collier concludes, from the result of an eX-
pertinent on small quantity Of stalks of
maize conducted in IA way less thorough than
would he reached by practice on the large
scale, that ton of raw stalks, such as he
worked on, would have yielded of sugar 80. .O3
pounds and of molasses 10. 81 pounds. There
Is no doubt in Mr. Golfers Judgment that a
more thorough removal of the juice from the
stalks would nearly if not quite have doubled
the above yield.
The sugar thus obtained was, in the case
OF sorghum, nearly white, while i'll the case
of maize stalks it was rich golden yellow.
Professor Collier says
"Imay add that in no case, either with corn or
sorghum, did fail TO obtain satisfactory results in
the way OF capitalization although OF course, the
molasscs contains a very large percentage of crys-
talzable which will at least in great part be
obtained by further concentration. The
point which these experiments have fully settled is,
that there exists no difficulty in making from
either corn sorghum first-rate quality OF sugar
which will compare favoraby with the best pro-
duct rom sugar-c zane grown in the most favorable
localities.
Prot. Collier finds there was no advantage
i'll stripping off tine leaves and tops OF the
stalks, but that there was actually an i'll
creased amount both of juice and syrup,
when the whole growth was crushed and
pressed /; nor was there any appreciable diff
terence IN the readiness of the syrup to crys-
tallize, nor in the character of the sugar
finally obtained. Important observations
were also made upon the distribution of su-
gar in the butts and tops of the same stalks,
the butts of both corn and sorghum giving
more juice and OF higher value than that
from the tops, the juice from the butts also
granulating to sugar more readily than the
top jnice.
Ii Is also evident, from later experiments
detailed in the report, that with better mill,
very important increase OF juice was OBJ
tanned, for the relutive percentage OF syrup,
and Professor Collier concludes that with
good mill, from 80 TO 10 per cent. better re-
suits may be obtained than those he got in
the experiments detailed above. Many other
equally important points remain to be in
vestigated, as the best time to cut the stalks
for the maximum product of sugar and the
chatacter of the plants as respects culture,
soil, fertilizers and variety of grain Other
reed-hle-nants or grasses containing sugar
also require to be Investigated. Some interest
ing experiments are recorded in millet, from
which excellent sugar was obtained.