The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1882-11-01
mated now as going on at about the same
SORGHUM SUGAR.


The long.standing problem of making a
good merchantable article of sugar, at pay,
ing rates, from the common sorghum cane,
over which large private fortunes had hsen
expended to say nothing Of half a millisn
by the general government, and as much
more by state governments, seems at last
10 be satisfactorily solved, We mentioned
week or two ago the success attained at
the sugar works at Champaign, Illinois,
where they are now turning out batch a.
ter batch of sugar from sorghum with pre-
cisely the same certainty that the southern
planter does from the ribbon cane. They
are making some thirty barrels Of nice su
gar daily, fully equal to the New Orleans,
selling by the barrel at the sugar works a.
SIS cents per pound. There is no sor-
ghum flavor or gummy character aoou,
the sugar. 1t will sell IN any market with
the New Orleans sugar, brir ging the SAINT
price and giving the sam satisfaction.
And all this success has been obtained IN
the most unfavorable season that We have
had for cane for many years.
But if possible still greater success has
been obtained al Rio Grande, New Jerser,
small village six miles north of Cape
May. After three years of trial and disap-
pointment, the parties this year planted
one thousand acres of sorghum, mostly of
the Early Amber Variety, which rlpcncd
only reasonably well, on account of the
unusually unfavorable season, yet under
date of Oct 70 the president OF the com.
pany writes:
We will have 100000 pounds of sugar
made by next Saturday night. | nave
about twenty sugar wagons and we keep
them full. Each sugar wagon holds abOU;
two and a halt barrels of sugar. A barrel
OF sugar weighs 3j5 pounds net. Forty
sugar wagons therefore hold about $4,000
pounds OF sugar, so that the sugar already
made and the sugar in sight amounts to
236, 900 pounds. We estimate we have t
600 tons of cane to work up after this week.
We have $4,000 gallons of molasSes on hand
now, and unless we can get forty cents per
gallon for it we will work it over into see
onds and thirds Mr. Knight will prob
able refine the sugar we sold him this
week.
The company is so well satisfied with
the seasons work that they will plant .
900 acres OF sorghum next year and dou-
bic the capacity of their mill, They not
only make a ialr profit from the sugar
alone, but have 10000 bushels of seed of
sorghum which they readily sell at 60 cts
a bushel, and paper manufacturer Of
Philadelphia is experimenting with the
fiber after the juice is extracted with great
confidence that 1t will prove a valuable
material for paper making.
The industry of course will be one OF
great national importance, II will make
our own sugar and keep our money at
home, instead of sending Il abroad to the
amount of one hundred millions annually.
Our farmers are running too much to
wheat and corn. There is need Of some
other crop to occupy their attention, the
product of which can be shipped abroad,
and sugar will be that product 1t is not
an exhaustive crop TO land, like wheat and
corn, but draws Its substance largely from
the atmosphere-the ashy portion Of Its
constituents being exceedingly light