Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-09-25
KANSAS SUGAR.

ago contains long interview with the
secretary of agriculture, as follows:
Uncle Jerry Rusk was in the city
yesterday on his way to Madison,
where he will spend few days before
returning to his duties as secretary of
agriculture. In about week Secretary
Rusk will leave for Missouri and Kan
sas, his trip to the latter state being in
connection with the extensive expert
ments in sorghum cane that are being
conducted by the agricultural depart
ment. Some $4,000 acres of land have
been planted IN sorghum cane in Kan
Sas, and the entire chemical CORPS of
the department, sixteen expert chem
lists, have been turned loose on the pro-
duct to make tests. A few days ago
Secretary Rusk received advices from
them that the cane had yielded splendid
results, some of it showing 16 per cent.
OF saccharine matter, whereas II per
cent. is sufficient to enable the profita-
bic production of sugar. Secretary
Rusk was highly elated yesterday oyer
the news he had received, and believes
that the agricultural departments ex-
periments will revolutionize the sugar
trade of the country If the results keep
up as they have begun.
eff the sorghum cane produces IL per
cent. of saccharine matter" said he,
1.-The cost of the sugar can be brought
down to cents pound. Were it not
for the fuel problem in Kansas, it would
be shaved down to two cents. There is
no profit ia operating a small mill, for
instance twenty or fifty ton mill, but
there is in two hundred and fifty ton
mill. Take manufacturing season of
sixty days, and two-mile field would
supply the material nicely for such a
mill. Now plant a 250-ton mill every
two miles IN Kansas and look at the
enormous production of sorghum sugar
that there would be in that state alone.
How much sugar does a $50 ton mill
produce daily 81
You can figure that out yourself on
the basis of II per cent saccharlne mat
ter in the cane. Every day there would
be $50 tons OF cane crushed, yielding
10000 pounds of sugar. In sixty-day
season that would amount to 1,SOO, 900
pounds from single mill.'
Don't you think other states could
do as we'll as Kansas 2"
Undoubtedly, If located south of the
north line of Kansas. L don't believe
that the sorghum industry could be sue
cessfully carried on in Iowa, Illinois or
Wisconsin. You see to make it profit
able there must be a manufacturing
season of sixty days. Now you can
raise sorghum cane in Wisconsin and
other states in this latitude, but you
haven't time to reduce to sugar before
it is nlpped by frosts. The cane must
be cut as it is used in the mill, for it
sours forty-eight hours after it is cut.
and the cane would not mature in this
climate early enough to give a manu-
featuring season."
How would an extensive manufac-
ture of sorghum sugar affect the south
Gil CouO plduldGlOQS 2!
ut would pay them to give up sugar
cane raising and go into the cultivation
of the sorghum cane. In Louisiana.
for instance, they could gather two
crops of sorghum cane, and look at the
difference in cost. To plant an acre of
sugar cane costs the plantation owner
$50; to do SO in soFgi1un the cost is 10
cents. The difference is due to the fact
that field of sugar cane is planted
from the slips, while field of sorghum
is raised from the seed. We have been
gathering large quantities of the cane
this season, taking only rrof.a the stalks
ut our chemical tests show to contain
IL per cent. ~ ~ more of the saccharine
substance"
But the sorghum sugar Is not a.
good as that from the sugar cane ~,
: roasting process has been invent
ed that sends the sorghum cane through
a trench and burns away all the leaves
and green outside. By this means tba
sorghum sugar will be just as good in
every way as the other. The question
now is whether this roasting process
can be used without too great expense
The leaves and green outside of the cane
are what give the sorghum its peculiar
flavor, and when consumed by this pro-
cess the sugar isproduced without hay
ing that disagreeable fiavor.''
Another thing, said Secretary Rusk.
that addeo to the desirability of cultiva-