The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1882-09-14
ss..r,. Sorghum w.rh..

is pleasure to write up the business enterpris-
es that give life and wealth TO this community and
extend the reputation Of Don;phan County abroad
We recently gave description Of Y. b. Woods in
| nous orchard, and now w- write o. another import
ant enterprise in oGr vicinity. On last Thursday af
| ternoon, we accepted invitation from Y X Stout
to look through his sorghum works half n mile easi
| Of town.
There are several very extensive sorghum works
In Southwestern Kansas, where the soil and climate
sppear TO be particularly adapted to III. growth Of
sorghum bat Mr.. Stout's works are probably the
largest in the northern part of the State lie has, at
an expense of 900, pct in the newest aud best
chinery including engine, iron mill and boiling ap
paratus- When the stalks are brought from the
field, the headscontanng the seeds are chopped of,
and the leaves stripped off, The stalks are then ia
ken to the mill. and through the crusher, which
extracts every particle Of juice, and eonveyor
ries and deposits the crushed remains of the stalks
away from the mill. This substance is called bag
gasse The juice runs from the erusher into
trough, and after lterng through hay, is conveyed
through underground pipes to large tanks at the
boiling house. These tanks being located down the
bill, on lever level than the crusher the juice is
forced through the pipes into the tank by its
weight. In the crushing operation, not over one
hundred pounds of steam are used.
The boiling house contains two sets of pans, and
two furnaces are kept running. Each row of pans
contains five, and the total length Of the row is
twenty-five feet; but Mr. Stout will soon enlarge
them, and add some improvements The raw Juice
first runs into an evaporator of a new patent, that
forces the green intoa it boils where
1t lie readily skinned off, without touching the con-
tents Of the evaporator, which is covered From
this pan the syrup into the next and from there
is dipped into the next and next. and next, after
being boiled and skinned in each. All the skim
ngs except the first are preserved. They make er-
cellent vinegar. and are also good for hogs In the
last pan the boiling Is thorough, until the syrup is
complete. when it is run off into cooling tanks and
when cooled, is barreled The syrup that is now be-
ing made is Of 4 superior quality and rs clear as
honey. In about hour after the juice is pressed
from the cane IL is finished SYRUP AT pre.eut the
works are turning ont 500 gallons per day But the
is yet at its best In week or two, it will
be greatly improved. and then the production will
be raised to coo gallons per day
Mr.. Stout has $50 acres of sorghum which will av-
erage three barrels $50 gallons of syrup per acre
He expects to turn out at the lowest estimate four
hundred barrels, 10000 gallons. In addition to
this he will buy cane of Others and work up cane
for small growers. He no lime nor acids of
any kind in the manufacture, but his syrup is pure
and unadulteratcd He finds ready sale for all he
pdoduces, at so cents per gallon by the barrel This
at 90, 900 gallons, makes the handsome amount of
$4,000 as the result of his seasons operations
There is no waste about a sorghum factory. Hor-
ace Greeley once said that sorghum was n yegeta
BILE sheep-there was no part of it but could be utl
lied. The leaves used for fodder, the seed for
stock feed the skimmngs for hogs and the stalks for
fuel 1t requires about half cord of wood per day
to run the engine in the grinding house The stalks
after going through the crusher. the b1ggasss is