The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-08-01
save Your Sorghum.

:
that the best If sugar and ~
lasses can be made from it, Books ar
being printed to describe the new pr"
cess. The papers arc iuil of artic =
about II. In notice OF the failure .
/ Orange Judd, the founder of the dDte,i
can Agricultuist, the Ne1C York Ueruh
ascribes to him the credit of Introducing
Sorghum culture in this country. Tha
lis absurd Sorghum was grown in all
parts Of the South, during the war aud
ten years previous. We recently received
an article for Maj. Edwin Henry, (of III,
Granville family, now resident IN Green,
county. Tennessee, stating that he was
one of the earliest lntroducers ot Sor
ghum. He writes
Some I irty years ago had imported
from .lal ce, through Vim r. Prince, oil
Flushing, Long Island, a hogshead Of
the Chinese sugar cane seed of he black
seed variety. sold the greater portion,
~ small quantities to persons al over The
country. ard i, brought as high a> ten
dollars Per y nnd. | planted some of the
seed IN my Garden at Flushing. Tins
was the first cane seed imported for com
merclal purposes into the United States.
The next year after this importation
Leonard Wray, an Englishman VITO hau
lived in India, imported what is known
as lmphee seed, and with high hopes
started a plantation for its growth in
South Carolina.
During the last thirty years the cult
vatlor Of sorghum and the making of
moIasses therefrom has prevailed to a
greater or less extent in practically every
portion of the Union. The success that
has attended its culture it must be ad-
United has not been very brilliant sor
shum mols sses. as it has generally been
made. has proven to be poor substitute
Tor the delicious maple syrup, strained
money, or the better grades of tropic su-
gar cane syrup. 1t has been evident to
e. eryDody that sweetness Is found In the
sorghum. but unfortunately pungent
acl t. Sorghum taste has almost invari-
ably rendered the use Of the syrup I'M
possible to cultivated palates but it is
the purpose of this essay to show and to
call attention to the fact that in this com
mon and much Gespised sorghum there
is l. dyed large possibility Of supplying
the demand OF our people for sweets at q
small cost to the consumer, and a great
PR ut to the producer, which may in its
results revoutionze the sugar trade OF a
continent. Our importations of sugar
anc molasses alone exceed oue hundrea
millions OF dollars annually. From the
stand of Cuba alone we import over fifty
Millions Of dollars worth of sugar each
year, and our exports to that island are
ess than two millions OF dollars in the
products of this country. From these
facts 1t is evident that the utilizing OF
my means of sugar supply, whereby one
nUndred millions of dollars could be
,aved would prove an immense boon to
our country
Sugar is always made from some vege-
table growth. From the sugar tree in
northern Iatitnaes. from the canes of the
ROPES. and from the sugar beet in
France. the world supply of sweets
prac ically comes. The question then
.ome- is another plant which 10 our eli
nate can fairly liy Il and even excel the
>neer cane Of Cub, and Louisiana and
e su. i, beet Of F,ance?
A> to ne result nf recent and careful
examination into the caracity of sor-
,hnm as su- arpFoducing plant, | EN-
phatlcaly answer that rival has been
found in the better varieties Of the sor
hum plant to every other sugar -produc-
ing plant known.
The great dlf1icu'tieS t. be overcome
IN making sor Ihun culture splendid
sue. .CsS have been twn First, to get rlG
OF the acid always present in the juice
which gives the peculiar and unpleasant
md even nauseous taste peculiar to sor-
yiium and second, to cause the wrap to
granuate into sugar. The first difficulty
is easily overcome by the use of lime,
which may be added in small quantities
while the boiling of the sorghum juice is
going on. Lime is simple alkalie cheap
and always easily obtained. The second
difficulty is not so readily overcome. 1t
must here be remembered that two kinds
of sugar are produced by nature. They
are comm only known by the terms grape
sugar and cane sugar. Grape sugar, or
glucose, does not granulate. 1t can be
cheaply produced from corn and other
grains, and from manv plants. 1t is less
sweet than the granulated sugar. 1t is
commonly used, as we all know, as an
adulterant. Granulated sugar can only
be proitably made from the plants in
which sucrose naturally excels to a
large degree. This elementary principle
exists in the sorghum plant, but very
much depends upon the proper evapora-
ton or boiling of the juice extracted in
order to the production of purely
granulated sugar.
In the last three years there has been
very careful study and experiment 90
ing on in the aid of the general govern
ment, and by some of the States inde-
pendently. and these with experiments
of individuals and corporations who
have embarked in the business of sugar
making, have made developments in
sorghum culture and the manufacturing
of syrups and sugar that prove beyond
all question that both at the North and
the South they can protitably produce
all the sweets they require.
Aside from its value as a producer of
the sweets, for which it has an incalcu-
liable value, it is one of the best grain
producing plants now under cultivation.
The grain seed of this cane is quite
equal in value to Indian corn. taking
pound for pound as food for animals.
! The vastly populated India, China and
Japan use the seed as their staple bread
! food.
Its profit as crop IS more than
double that of corn, wheat, tobacco or
cotton. and no over-production Is pos
sible for years to come.
As an exhauster of the soil nearly all
who have cultivated it agree that no
crop draws on the soil so little. Like
most of the plants having large
amount of sugar in them, it draws