The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1888-12-05
slIaAR AND MOI ASSES
Tho Part Flled by Sorghum Down South
During tbs Har.


Tho Part FfIled by Sorghum Down South
During this War.
At home and abroad sorghum came to
take the place of the vanished sugar.
The children at home nte il in their gin
ger cakes. and the soldiers in cslmp
drank it in their rye coffee. The mo-
-lasses and sugar of Louisiana were pro-
curable in degree till the fall of Vicks-
burg. but the spirit of Independence was
rife, and each state desired and deter
mined to rely as much as possible
on its own products. The theory
of state sovereignty was extended
even 20 sorghum; and its intro
duction was hailed everywhere rs one
of the greatest boons of beneficent
Providence. The juice of the cane.
extracted in primitive fashion by crush
ing the stalks between wooden rollers
revolving upon wooden cogs and inipelled
by hovse-and- little -darkv power. was
caught I'M an ordinary. trough, boiled
down INTO proper consistency in Ireserv-
itnliglltihe utilized for the purpose and
tl3l-reled for use as sorghum molassess
Ellle syrlp thus produced WAS quite a
spalatsble one. tvitll 4 sIiektIv sseitinIotis
aud not disag gapeable flavor, but with IN
unpleasant tendency to make the mouth
sore. 1t Msis known as s;lolig sweeteI1-
ing, y in .coiltFadistinotion to its prede-
cesSor, short sweetening," the sugar
that was scarce.
From its use in the place of sugar sor-
| ghui1 soon leaped into high rePute as an
almost universal food staple 1t was
warranted TO cure any case of hunger in
manor beast. Writers in tl.e suggestive
| daily press undertook in elaborate and
| exhaustive essays to show that sorghum
/ syrup was nearly as nutritious as meat
and an exceedingly good substitute for it,
while the seed of the sorghum cane was
capable of being ground into meal that
/ made most excellent and wholesome
| brown bread. They claimed that the
| problem of blockaded existence had been
solved i'll the discovery of plant which
! produced in itself meat and bread for
1 the human family and I,rsjyeIder for
cattle Yet the average denizen of the
| Confederacy, whether at horle or in the
| army, while rendering due credit to the
ingenuity and skill with which the cause
I of the food staple" was advocated by
its clIabpions, appealed to the higher hr-
bitrar1cnt OF his owli Digestion; and
though willing to accord sorghum its
real merit as serviceai1le and useful III
| She place of something better, he was
l always ready to pXcilange i. for the nncrc
certain and familiar ,4utrinent ct bacon
and corn fonc. 10 see it fulfill the
4 functions of sugar in the latest recipe for
| Confederate coGco and tea was we'll
enough; but quietly to submit to its
risiirpation OF the liigli places of pork and
corn was more than tile appetite of
hungry rebellion would endure.
] There was a Secondary use to which
sorghum was put, ili 7Vhic:l. it met with
| decided favor from select few. This
/ was its use in lhe manufacture of black
! ing. The manuscript recipe books Of
that day say that wonderful sifoe black-
4 lug, as good rs Gason's Lest, T" c;li I've
i-madc Of sorghum nlo:isses, E.snewood
SCOT, meats foot oil and risss.as!
Yet, on the theory Of the survival of
the f:ttest. the average Confederate must
have been right ana the tleoretic writer's
in the newspapers wrong about the value
of sorghum, for bacon and corn bread
have long since regained their wont2d
asceudeucy i'll the south, and sorghum
has vanished entirely from the fieils
| where it once fouIisiled, save, perhaps,
1 where here and there some man and
| brother cultiVates it yet in his little
|'trTIck patch, = making '.long sweeton-
ing for the consumption of his family
i in rs primitive .: method rs that il which
he helped his quondam owner to make it
.'cndurin' o thc wa!l."
In the hardest times of the war period.
| when provisions were the sctrcest, tho
I latch to the larder~ of every south: IN
housekeeper hing out to cacl, southern
SOLDIER no matter how ragged or humble.
/ For him the best viands about the place
were always prepared; and his was the
high prerogatlve of receiving the last cup
of real coffee, sweetened with the solitary
remnant of sugar. With compassionate
4 pity the women recognized the harIsllips
in the army life of the Confederate soldier,
] and were always ungrudgingly ready to
mitigate its seventies in every possible
nanner.-A. c. Gordon IN The Century.