The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1884-01-30
SORGHUM A SUCCESS.
Results Of the Growers Con-
ventiOh ut st. Louis.


an AHcft SAH NN ROEN~E w@iAC0 up
M Mr.. G. w. clifford, Of The firm Of
smith, Clifford a. Co, yesterday
for the purpose of learn
Ing from him something of the do
ingS Of the Sorghum Sugar Conven-
ton that met ut St. Louis on the
10th, 18th and 18th Of this month.
Mr.. Clifford made the. following
statement to the reporter 4
q vas commissioned by Gov.
Bate TO represent the State mt this
and I found this au-
thority of great assistance TO me,
as / was recoguized as The repre-
sentative OF State where the Com
missioner Of Agriculture and the
Governor had taken great interest
I'm the manufacture Of sugar from
sorghum bouj
@Col, Coleman, the editor of the
RHrd World, afforded me every as
distance in getting information on
every point 7 wanted to look into,
and the whole question was thor
euRhly and eomprehensiveiy dis
enssed. Itwas agreed to take up
the discussion of the matter sys-
tsmaticalIy, the first speaker be
ginning with the selection Of the
Sced and the next with the prepare
ton of the ground. The best man
nsr of cultivating the cane was
Also discussed very fully.
"Prof Wiley, the Government
chemist, was among the speakers,
hsving been sent BY the Govern
'ment 10 explain the character OF
fertilizers TO be used, the amount OF
sacchArine matter in the sorghum
and the other scientific points re-
Iadng to the question under discus
sion. .
"Ths next question discussed was
the best manner to get the sugar
from the cane and use the bagasse
or fibre remaining after the stalk is
run through the mill. Prof NJ.
Scovell, of Champaign, Ill, who N
one of the members Of q very sue
cessful company that have been
manufacturing sugar from sorghum
at ChaInpaign, H., explained the
best way Of manipulating the cane,
the machinery necessary, etc, etc.
He gave the result of his analysis
of the cane cut in its various stages,
showing that by topping the cane
IL increases the amount Of cane
sugar very materially, and prevents
the cane from being blown to the
ground by the wind or falling from
being too top heavy The process
for making sugar used by the Cham
paign Company is the same rs that
used by the Rio Grande Company,
Of Newark, Y. j., and has been
found very profitable. I'D.
Samples of sorghum sugar from
Kansas, Iowa, and other States,
where nothing but the early amber
cane can be grown, on account OF
the shOrtness of the season, were
shown, and some of the molasses
was made into sugar, in little
centrifugal machine, worked in the
presence of the members Of the con-
VentiOn."
The Amrricdn reporter ate some
of this sugar, which was given him
by Mr.. Clifford, and found it to be
very sweet and of a very fine quail
ty, looking almost as white aud well
grained as the graduated sugar
sold at the grocery stores.
Mr.. Clifford continued: 'Prof
Wiley explained the object and uses
Of the pOlariscope on = blackboard,
and had one ofthese wonderful little
instruments with him, which shows
that sorghum sugar polarizes at SO
per cent, indicating that TO be the
amount Of saceharine matter in the
substances. -.E..r..
alt was demonstrated beyond a
question" said Mr.. Clifford, "that
sorghum sugar can be made with
very great profit. 1t was also
shown that Nashville was the very
center of the sorghum belt, and
that the Honduras cane can be rails
ed In this section. II is three times
more prolific and productive Of sac
chArine matter thaM any other kind
of cane which can be grown north
0f the Ohio river. 1t was also
demonstrated that sorghum would
grow better in this county than
Louisiana even, and that it is per-
fpctly safe crop; more SO than any
other raised in this SECTOR of the
Nor is there any likeli-
hood OF over production, aS we raise
only about one-tenth of the sugar
used in this country now, and inn
port the rest mostly from Cuba.
Then, .iustead OF having to pay all
the freight on sugar from the large
refineries i'm New York, we could
refine eur own sugar at home. In
the far west this saving Of freight
in very great. The returns of these
Western sugar mills last year show
ed a clear profit of 25 per cent, and
the people there look upon the in
dustry M the most profitable thing
in which they can put their money.
at was shown by the scientists
at the convention that much of the
syrup that remained after extract
ing the sugar can be still further
refined by chemicals, so as to pro-
ducs several pounds of sugar to the
gallon, leaving very little syrup
1.-THE question whether n sorghum
crop exhausted the soil more than
any other was also discussed. Plenty
,f statistics ON this subject were to
Do had, and the result was that, If
he cane Is topped, ninety per cent.
,fthe exhaustion Of the soil in saw
"A, and khat even when this is not
lone, DC docs not exhaust the soil
nearly 20 mach as corn
"From the bAgasse or fibre, the
very strongest and best sort of
paper can be mAuufactur-
"a . that hothing goes 70 waste"
IL IN nrOnomod 20 ~rrm~m~.r~, =. .t-.l-