, 1880-02-04
SORGHUM SUGAR,

0T Agriculture, LenrnA tho Necrct or
Past FalDMrcs-The Cam 3IHHt Isr
Thoroughly Rfpe WHEN 1t II Chit
Sorghum Cauo Yielding More Cry.-
ta1lixct Sugar t}lnn Loulalann Canc
ffnIAcd Under Like Conditions.
WASHINGTON, y. C., inn. st-Of course
there Is s1Ear III sorghum; 1t required no III
vcstlgat'on by the Agricultural Department
to prove that. Everybody llas known for tho
lust twenty years that The juice Of tho Chi
licse suEar.cane contained Hacciarine ,nnlter,
ai'd there has never been any trouble In MAJ
Ing strip or n0lasses of same varieties 0f II.
Tlle difficulty l,aa bcen that tho sugar In ts
sir,lp, when the latter has been obtained, hns
been, to use a mining term that seems to
tu appropriate, rcfractory,--ti,at iS, It l,as
refused 10 crystalline. Almost every year n
few farl1ers In different purts of the country
luye exhibited In State or county fairs some
very god samples Of sorghum sugar, nllu
moro tllan nilcc the discovery OF new yn-
Ftety Of the plant llas breM announced,
when. II has been said, yielded well III cuno
sugar; but wllen mn attempt las becn made
to repeat the experiment It hay generally
bscn attended with failure. The amount Of
c1ystalizAblo sugar which the sorghum Inns
yielded ON Il second tFal hns been 80 small
tfnt the cost Of producing II lias been ont Of
ali proportion to Its value, n,id not infrc-
Qnently the slrup llas been almost worthless.
And So The pr0ducers OF sorghum have gen.
orally abandoned the attempt. to lnake ssIEar
urcl q yearly lncrens!nT. amount of sErilp
which Is. l,It|ecfI. valuable. but for which,
there Is large market only Mt the distll-
leFirs, md TINT ut Il moderate price.
The reasons for tic failure hf fDrghum
{uico TO produce silgar have not hecn, detinl--
ly KNOWN. Farmers wliu have exM.rintcntgd
with the plant have very generally supposed
that SOME varieties, Of cann raised Under any
more sl,cross or .crystAtizab1e sugar than
others, uni lIave tried nue Kind nfter another
will, varying sltcccSs: Once IN while II 1l!ul,
llns obtained good crop 9t sugar, but the
variety Of sorghum, citt 1t nj exnctty the
salns date, nMt trruted tho jure rs In lat(
treated It the y.nr brtorr, l,is crop '.ns heeu
snIilll, almost @ a!l lnolns:d:s md very little
III 'l1e treatment 0f thu sIrup with no more
satisfactory results: and agricultural c'lntn.
isis who stndiet the subject finally settled
tt,wi, totllc opinion that the sncc1artnc matter
uncrystalllzable sugar, but they seem to l,aye
t,eetl unable 10 account for tho ffct that nilro
In tive or siS years Il good crop uf sorghum
snEar Wns made.
lcctetl 4 considerable quantity Of lie seeds
Of the particular variety Of Chinese cane
from which tho manufacture az sugar hnll
been most successful, and distributed them
suIt was tnore, encouraging tliMt1 almost ary
that hui previously been attained. Upto
this point tho experiment, as fur ns could he
learned tfOr tho officials Of the AGRICULTURAL
5 5Rspff'st wss c a !" aes ana vs9y
formation from thpnl. was In the old line.
1t WAS III, ntteMpt to find a. variety Of sorghum
that would pYotlSes ln':ye Fer,i:ist!ge ef
| variety Gen. 1.e Due distributed, yielded
known. There were, ! iclicvc, some expert
mcnts III tho trcai'icnt, of the strip,
s:tsh sines BEEN ~ s % a. tat t VIA ~ not W ss
direction, III which the most Important IN
vestfgatlolls were to be made. Given the
BIZ suyar, lM cons Aderablc quantities, and the
n!ansiastllrc uf 's,gar from II is d very slu,-
" WGIs 'H' ha,ar e,.s of farmers succeeded we'll
distributed tS- Gen. Lo Duc, It WIS not until
near tho clo 20 Of the season Of 1870 that tic
most in|mF.tant discovery yet made III regard
| To SnrEltrin wis announced by DR.. Peter
io il spr, x & Il ffSs s7s tSis sentcx" s p'sne IL
tho Ayr risu1tutul Department grounds fur
rows oi sorghum, .cacll row hs!ne of u differ
cnt vftrlply from l!lo others; They ars know,
| !esktfllSClt NS " E.I41 2AHloN!l AAlMCoG$
| "W l,itc LlberIMN," ind Honduras" BE-.
Rita,,ng on the 18th Of ,!uly,n fey stalks were
tnenl, after haylng bcen, ex;rnctel!, wpsi
tnrefnlly ana'yzc!l. Subsequently IT
fr0!m that and the rell,tlnIng varieties, and u
record preserved Ut tho constituents If thclr
Juices. Tie results of these Investigations
werc very. remarkable. TlIey showed III every
instance that the glucose nr lncrystnlitzablt
sugar contained It. the Juice WIS greatest III
the carly, atagrS OF the tevclopnens Vt tlG
tic cane rcactt'l full maturity, attl TINT 7
been subjected IN 4 linrtl frost. On thu Other
baud, the couvcrss uf this was true Of thu
/ sl,rr,ise or crystallizahlu ang1tr. Tint WIS nj
its minimum during the carly staEex Of tllt
gruwlh Of tl!e plant, Increased steadily rs TIT
season 1ttlynncetl, rt.Atet It's maximum wiel
tic cn,lc was thoroughly rine, ali, except III
tile first variety, l,cEan 10 dlminlsfl alter {,
ilnrtl frust. Tho following table, condensed
from l]r. ColEier's records Of tho experiment,
| exhibits these facts:
::zzz|
svxA Z = = :