The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-08-25
SORGHUM SUGAR.
Some OF the Western States Where the
Sorghum Plant Can H Grown.

Sorghum Plant Can H Grown.
Although sorghum is generally con.
sidered an upstart thrusting itself into
sugar-cane society, it has claims to be
considered the more ancient and aristO-
cratic of the two. 1t is said that
sorghum, which is the durra of the
East, was the plant originally used by
the Chinese in making sugar. The
differences between the two plants are
many and vital, despite their botanical
grouping. The sugaf-cane (Saccharum
ofcinarum, Linn. is perennial plant,
growing in favorable localities some
times for fifty years from the same
roots, propagated not by seed but from
cuttings OF slow growth, and requiring
in the tropics often from fourteen
months to two years for its develop
ment. The sorghum Sorghum
rulgare, Pers. }, which is really cereal.
and much more like maize than like
sugar-cane, is an annual. grown from
seed, and maturing often within three
months. The sugar-cane is OF thick
and sturdy growth, with great deal
Of woody fiber in its outer envelope,
and with tough and dense internal
structure. The sorghum is taller and
more slender. of softer outer structure
and less dense pith. The sorghum. I'M
like the sugar-cane, is crowned with q
cluster Of edible seeds, the "seed-
head" used as food for men as well as
for cattle. There are number Of
species Of sugar-cane, although all are
supposed to have developed by cultiva-
ton from single progenitor, whose
httbitat is unknown; the varieties of the
sorghum are less marked, and are all
definitely within one species.
Sorghum sugar making is. in this
country. rather a matter of prophecy
than Of experience, yet there seems to
be no good reason why the work of the
Department Of Agriculture, Of which
this industry is pet nursing, should
not result in developing an important
interest.
The sugar sorghum is planted from
seed in April or May, and at first grows
slowly, very like Its cousin the broom
corn sorghum. The botanists distin-
guish only one species, but the farmer
finds good deal of difference between
the early Amber cane" which Is the
favorite. the Orange. also much planted,
Links Hybrid, the Honduras, Liberian
and other kinds which ripen later than
the Early Amber, and are therefore less
suited to high ATTITUDES. After the
plant gets its real start, it grows won
derfully. and with remarkable inde-
pendence of season and climate, in wet
times or dry times, when Indian corn
would be drowned out or burned up,
and from Minnesota to Texas, where il
has been known to develop second
crop from the stubble after the first
has been cut. Profitable growing for
sugar is, however, confined to lower
ATTITUDES than at first supposed, and
the isothermal lines of seventy degrees
for the three summer months is now
thought by the best authorities to mark
the sugar limit, though strip may be
profitably made further north. This
includes Missouri, Tennessee, Ken
lucky, Illinois-which led in strip pro-
duction in the census year in the order
named-Kansas, Southern Indiana, etc.
as probable sugar-producing States.
The crop ripens at the North in Sep
TENDER and October, and at its ma.
turity presents fine picture, with its
deep green LEAKAGE, and the red or dark
tops of ripening seed. Its great enc
mics are early frosts and the equinoctial
storm, which is apt to strike the plants
just as it is ready to harvest, top-heavy
with its cone of seed, and bend it to the
ground. In 1888 the storm played sad
havoc with the ripened crop. The
Western farmers, who grow mostly for
sirup, report yield of from one hun.
bred and fifty gallons of sirup per acre
up, costing about twenty-four dollars
per acre to raise, in addition to use Of
land and outfit. At fifty cents per
gallon, this would give profit of about
thirty dollars per acre; but the trouble
is that this strip must come into com
petition with other sirups selling a,
scarcely above half that price. --R. II.
Booker, IN Harper's Magazine.
MENDlNG CLOTHES.