The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1882-12-23
SUGAR FROM SORGHUM.


scale of commercial success? The first
half of the question has been answered;
a good article of a sugar can be made from
sorghum and even from the stalks OF com.
mon field corn. The other half OF the
question remains: Can 1t be made on a
scale of commercial success?
1t IS now some twenty years since sor-
ghum was first raised in this country, aud
although IN that time q good deal OF syrup
of uneven quality has been made, 1t Is
only within the last half dozen years that
any real advance has been made towards
converting sorghum juice into marketa-
BILE sugar. That the molasses would granu-
late into sugar was soon discovered and
that the crude sugar thus formed, with its
rank, unpleasant taste, could be SO clarified
as to convert it into an article equal to the
best southern sugar, was also long ago dis
covered, the only problem left unsolved
bong how to do it by such a cheap and
simple process as to make it profitable.
Towards the solution OF that problem not
only varlons state legislatures made occa-
slonal appropriations, but Mr.. lie Duo, as
the head of the Agricultural Department at
Washington, got congress to make liberal
appropriations to the same end; but al
though he succeeded in making good sugar
both from sorghum cane and the stocks of
common held corn, the process was found
30 expensive as to be of no practical value.
Meantime, however, his Investigations
had so largely improved the manipulation
of the cane as to bring about decided i'm
provement in the quality of the molasses,
the difficulty attending this Improvement,
however, being the tendency of the mo-
lasses IN exact proportion to Its improved
quality, to granulate into sugar, or "mush."
This "mush," by means OF common cen
trifugal machine, was readily convertible
into sugar, but the sugar still retained the
Objectionable sorghum taste, which virtu-
ally ruined its commercial value.
This Objectionable taste was found to
result from the presence of gum In the
syrup, which could only be eliminated by
an expensive process. Simplify and cheap.
, en- this process, and the success of sugar
making from sorghum was assured. 1t is
here that Messrs. Weaver and ScOville, of
Champaign, claim to have made their hit.
While connected with the state agricul-
tural college at that place and engaged at
the expense of the state in experiments
with sorghum, they claim to have made
The important discovery so long sought,
but instead of giving the state the advan.
tage of 1t, they withdrew from the state in
stitution and had 1t patented in their own
name, and at an expense of some $25 600
erected sugar works at which, during last
season they made some $50, 900 lbs. OF sugar,
entirely free from the Objectionable sor.
ghum taste, and which readily sold whole.
sale at 8 cts. pound, about the same
price that first class New Orleans sugar
brings, and price at which the Cham.
phlRu thCy S"u 1AonS Wv
sugar with handsome profit.
What that improvement consists IN is OF
course secret 1t is discovered however,
that while they follow the ordinary Louis
ana method In making sugar in the main,
they differ at one point, to wit: at certain
stage the syrup Is filtered through bone.
black and this may be the whole secret OF
the elimination of the Objectionable gum.
That the manufacture Of sugar by the
Champaign process Is success there Is nc
doubt, as is evidenced by the fact that
Mcssrs. Weaver & Scoville are so well sat
lsfied with their success last season, though
the most unfavorabe for cane there has
been in many years, that they have doubled
their works and contracted with farmers
to raise over 1000 acres of cane for them
next season at remunerative price.
OF course If the success at Champaign
remains signal and indisputable, the little
company there will not be allowed to mo
nopolze the business and confine 1t tt
their limited locality. Mills must soor
spring up at many other points, and it il
no idle dream to predict that IN less thar
ten years Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, all tn,
prairie states, In short, will be dotted owe
with cane plantations and sugar mills al
thlckly as certain localities now are dotte'
with creamerles and cheese factories. A
the sorghum cane is proved to be fully a
rich in saccharine matter as the best Lou
isiana or West India cane, when the pre-
cess of extracting the sugar is rendere,
equally cheap, there will be no limit t
the amount the prairie states can produce
and the heaviest part of their industry ma
soon assume that form.
3 The we'll known Indiana congressman
: Godlove ). Orth, died at his home IN LIS