The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-12-26
Experiments with sorghum.

Philadelphia Record.
Professor George III. Cook, Director of the
New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Sta
ton, has issued his thirtieth bulletin giving
n full account Of experiments made with
the object of determining the effect Of iertil-
izers upon the formation Of sugar in sor-
ghum, and 10 prove that by the present sys
tenn more than one-half OF the sugar formed
in the plant may be wasted, and that even
when a mill yields irou: 90 10 60 per cent. OF
juice il may still have more sugar in the
begasse than IL extracts from the cane.
The season was favorable, the ground pre-
pared the same rs II intended for corn, and
the fertilizers applied broadcast and harrow
ed in. PhosphOric acid was used in the form
Of bOne-dust, black superphosphate, aud
nitrogen in the form OF nitrate OF soda. Mu-
rate OF potash was applied to some Of the
plots, and sulphate of potash to Others, while
manure was applied TO one plot and gypsum
10 another. Two plots were left without fer
tiizers. in order TO determine what the soil
was able 70 produce. The plants were Guilt
waited twice during the season, bat late cult
walton was avoided for fear of preventing
seed development. The fertilizers eXerted
no perceptibie effect on the plants. and aver
age canes were cut from each row as samples
After the leaves and sesdtops were re-
moved each sample was divided into two
portions. one OF which was Immediately
ground in a heavy mill and the weighed
juice tuOrOuEnly IllAeu ana aullNkeu, Wllllt
the remaining portion of each sample was
passed through a Lion fOdder-cutter and
carefully mixed. \ sub-sample was then
taken dried as rapidly as possible and ground
TO a fine neal From this meal the sugar
was extracted with boiling alcohol and deter
plined by means of the polariscope.
RegafGing the action OF fertilizers, with
one exception potash was present in every
case where the yield Of sugar was 4,OJ0
pounds OF more per acre. and that exception
was when plaster alone was used. The action
of this material is believed by many TO lie
chiefly in the power Of making potash,
which is stored in the soil. available for
plant food Potash alone developed more
sugar per acre than any other single mate.
rial, but potash combined with nitrogen
gave the highest yield of sugar OBJ.
tanned. The yield of sugar was relatively
low whenever phosphoric acid was used
and its Weld was considerably diminished
when the amount OF phosphoric acid was
doubled. the conclusion is that potash
was the element that influenced sugar pro-
duction, but the highest yield per acEe was
when il was used in connection with nitro
gen, and in every ease sulphate OF potash
surpassed the muriate in developing sugar.
Fields OF cane at the Rio Grande plantation
matured earlier by the use Of phOsphoric
acid, but all the plots at the Station matured
at the same time. The quantity of cane
alone is no index to the value of a fertilizer
as sugar developer IN sorghum, Tor plOt.
that produced smaller quantities of cane
than Others yielded more sugar, which was
the result of the experiment
When a mill expresses from 30 To GO per
cent. Of Juice from stripped aud topped cane
ii may yet leave more than One-half OF the
sugar in the begasse. This fact is shown BY
an example. The grain on a certIin plot
contained 4l19 pounds OF sugar per acre oil
this the mill expressed ,9S3 pounds, leaving
in the begasse 81 per cent. OF the sugar
which the cane contained This result il
the most favorable in the experiment and
the other extreme is found on a different
plot, where nearly 20 per cent. of the sugar
was wasted. In eleven cases the loss exceed
GO per cent, and. apparently, the greene
the cane, the smaller the loss of sugar bN
the milling process To explain this loss i
is necessary to assume that a considerable
portion OF sugar is stored in the cane in
solid state, either as pure crystalized sugar
or in some combination easily soluble II
water.
The bulletin contains severs1 processes 70
making sugar by chemical and mechanical
agencies. but the most important results Oh
tanned were those regarding the influence o
fertilizers Potash has long been known to b
capable of influencing the development o
sugar in fruits, but ii will be a mystery I
many to hear from the Professor that .'th
yield was diminished when the quantity 9
phospbOric acid was doubled" This porto
of the bulletin alone is very important an
further experiments should be made il
order to discover the cause. IL may not
surprising to know that phosphoric acid es
erted no influence, but that it should prov
an injury is entirely unexpected.