New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-01-26
SORGHUM SUGAR.
OF NEW EXPERIMENTS.


RESULTS OF NEW EXPERIMENTS.
DIR. COLLIER, CHEMIST OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
AGEIcrL1uRE, LEARNS TIE sECRFT OF PAST
fAILUREs-THE CANE MUST BF THOROUGHLY
RIPE WHEN 1T is cUT-sORGHUM CANE YIELDING
MORE CRYsTAILIzrD SUGAR THAN LOUISIANA
CANE RAISED UNDER LIKE CONDITIONS.
rrRow THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENCE THE TRBUNEl
WAsHI> G1oN Jan. 25.--Of course there is sugar 10
sorghum; IT required no investigation by the Aef'
cultural Department TO prove that. Everybody has
known for the last twenty years that the juice OF
the Chinese sugar cane contained saccharne matter,
and there has never been any trouble III making
syrup or mOasses OF varieties OF IT, Inc uliI-
Guilty has been that the sugar in the syrup wheh
the latter has been obtained, has been. to use mD-
ing term that seems to be appropriate, refractory
that is it has refused to crystalline Almost every
year few farmers different parts OF the country
have exhibited in State or county fairs some very
good samples of sorghum sugar, and more than once
the discovery of a new variety of the plant has
been announced which, 1t has been sald ylelded
well in cane sugar but when an attempt has Deeh
made TO repeat the experiment III mas eeheraiiy
been attended with failure. The amount OF
crystallizabe sugar which the sorghum has yielded
ON second trial has been so small that the cost Of
producing is has been out of all proportion TO IT'S
value, and not unfrequently the syrup has been al
most worthless. And SO the producers OF sorghum
have generally abandoned the attempt to make
sugar from Chinese cane, but they have manulac-
tured yearly increasing amount of syrup VIII Oh u.s.
indeed. valuable but for which there is large
market only at the distileries. and that at moder
ate price.
The reasons for the failure of sorghum juice TO
produce sugar have not been definitely known
Farmers who have eXpenmeDted with the plant
have very generally supposed that some varieties OF
cane raised under any circuE stances and on any
soil contained more sucrose or crystal zabe sugar
than Others and have tried one kind after another
with varying success. Once IN while man mas
obtained good crop of sugar. but the next year. al
though he planted the came variety OF sorghum
cut it at exactly the date and treated the juice
AZ he had treated IT tie before bis crop has been
small almost all nolasses and very little sugar.
Then experiments have been made in the treatment
of the syrup with more satisfactory results; ana
agricultural chemists who studied the subject finally
settled down to the opinion that the saccharine
matter in sorghum consisted chiefly of glucose or
uncrystalizable sugar, but they seem to have been
unable to account for the fact that once IN i've
or six years good crop of sorghum sugar was
made.
This was the state of the sorghum question
when the present Commissioner of Agriculture,
who 1t is well known, magnities the Office he holds,
began to look about for new channels INTO which no
might turn the agricultural industry OF tbecountry,
and one OF the first subjects TO which he directed bis
attention was the manufacture of sugar from Chi
pese cane General LIE Due is of extremely sangune
temperament. ana hen. about two years ago. he
had seen a few specimens of excellent sugar made
from sorghum he talked so enthusiastically about
IL that he brought down upon himself and his de-
partment che ndcule of the press OF the country
and of the intelligent farmers who had expenmen,ed
with the plant for years and knew how many dill
culties were to be encountered.
But the Commissioner of Agriculture was not a
man to be discouraged at trltes lie collected
considerable quantity of the seeds OF the particular
variety of Chinese cane from which the manufac-
ture of sugar had been most successful, and dstrb-
uted them to farmers all over the country, and the
result wa, more encouraging than almost any that
had previously been attained. Up to this point the
experiment, as far as could be learned for the Of
fcials of the Agricultural Department were, at that
time so enthusiastic that it vas difficult TO get very
definite information from them, III the old line
Ii was an attempt TO find variety OF sorghum that
would produce large percentage OF sucrose, Dht
why the Early Amber" the variety General lie
Due distributed, yielded more sucrose than other
kinds was not known. There were, believe. some
experiments in the treatment of the syrup about
which considerable published at the time bur.
as it has since been discovered, that was mol inc
direction ia which the most important nvesh2a-
tions were TO be made Given the syrup containing
the sucrose or crystalizabe sugar, in considerable
quantities. and the manufacture OF sugar from 1t Is
very simple matter.
Who hundreds of farmers succeeded well last
vear with the sorghum raised from seeds distributed
by General LIE Due. it was not until near the close
of the season of 1879 that the most important dls
covery vet made in regard to sorghum Was an
nounced by Dr. Peter Collier. the chemist Oh the
Department In the Spring OF 1879 tins gentle
man planted in the Agricultural Department
grounds four rows of sorghum. each row being Of
a different variety from the Others They are
knosvn respectively as :" Early Amber" " Chinese"
"White Liberan," and Honduras" Beginning
on the 18th of July a few stalks cut from the
Early Amber, and the inice of them, after having
been extracted. was carefully analysed. Suisse
ouently al short intervals other stalks We're cut
from that aud the remaining varieties. and record
preserved of The constituents Of their juices The
results of these Investigations were very remark
able. They showed III every instance that the
glucose or uncTystallizabe sugar contained In the
nice was greatest in the early stages OF the
development of the plant, and that it steadily
diminished until the cane reached full maturity,
and that If began TO increase again after the plant
had been subjected to hard frost. On the other
hand the OF this was true OF the sucrose OF
crystaIlizable sugar. That was at lts minimum
during the early stages of tia growth OF the plant
increased steadily the season advanced, reached
its maximum when the was thoroughly ripe,
and. except in the first variety, began to diminish
alter n hard frost The following table, condensed
from DR. Golfers records of the experiment, ex-
hibiis these facts: -
Per ctlPer CT.
OF plant Date. glnc' sucrse
$500" lin uiceinjuice