The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-03-26
Various Uses of Sorghum.

At a recent meeting af the New York
Cham Der of Commerce DIR. Peter Collier,
late chemist of the Department OF Agrical-
ture, SAID: The history of sorghum with US
only dates back 10 1858, when William r.
Prince imported from France a little cor
ghum seed, which Mr.. ID. Montigny, the
french Consul at Sbsn ghsi, China, had sent
to the Geographical Society of Paris in 1850.
In 1857 Leonard Wray, sn English mer-
Chant, brought from Natal, South Africa,
sixteen varieties of sorghum seed. To these
last the name imphee was given, whIle the
former YVES known as the Chinese sugar
cane. And yet this plant. whose merits
as q sugar-produc,lg blant appear to
have bean recognized thirty years ago,
had come to be 10 be regarded rs msinly
valuable for forage or as = source OF al in
ferior quality OF syrup. 1t was a great error
obtaining in Great Britain aud On the con-
tinent. as also in cur own country. that the
East Indians were = rics-eating people.
Fully nine.tenths o. them subsist mainly
upon sorghum seed In Tarkestan sorghum
is the main cereal. a.. owing to the excessive
d~reughts, no others could 90 successfully
grown. In the northern part OF China sor.
ghum vas grown as maize is with Us. and Tor
the same purposes. and it so entirely salts
fed the wants of the people that /. lad
practically excluded maiZe. / have person
ally obtained within q few months from
Calcutta eleven varieties OF sorghum seed,
kNcALy-O1c fhIitllcr 4Om II O41FWdI us
trict in western India, three from hong
Kong, three from Foo Chow, two from
Senegambia-in addition to eight varie-
ties from northern China. three from
Cawnpore, India. and twenty-five from
Natal, South Africs-in all, seventy-three
distinct varieties OF sorghum, not ons OF
these appearing to be identical with any OF
the numerous varieties cultivated in the
United States; aud it Is to be remembered
that none of these varieties has ever been
cultivated in either of these countries for
any purpose other than the seed and such
forage as might be secured from the stalks
and blades. Indeed. it is probably true that
for the past thousand years ths sesd OF sor-
ehum has furnished food in greater abun.
dance for both man and beast than have
wheat and maize combined. IL is admitted
that the demands upon climate and soil of
the sorghum, as also the details of cultiva-
ton, are practically identical with those of
maize. although it is O matter Of moment
that the sorghum, provided only il secures
8 good start in the early portion of
the season, is capable of withstand-
ing not only, bat even hourishing during q
drought which would prove fatal TO maize.
The chemical composition of sorghum seed
hows 1t TO be practically identical with
maize; snd for the purposes OF food or fat
tening, for the production OF alchol. glucose
or starch, the one may be substituted for the
other, and there Is no reason for any differ
ence in their commercial value. Grown as
Indian corn is grown, for the seed alone, sor-
ghum is a crop of equal value With corn,
and we are prepared to believe that upon q
plantation properly located with regard to
the mill and with economy in management,
TIE seed will pay the entire expense of Guilt
vation of crop and the delivery CT the a a
at the mill, as one of our largest sorghum
planters has assured me.