COMMITTEES ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 285 
factured, and in 1870, three years after the close of the war, the 
production had risen to 16,000,000 gallons. It increased from 
year to year during the next decade, and was about at its maxi- 
mum in 1880, when the output was more than 28,000,000 gallons. 
Although beginning as early as 1863 some sorghum sugar was 
made in the United States every year, it was not until near the 
time when sorghum syrup production was at its height that the 
attention of the Government was turned toward the promotion 
of the manufacture of this kind of sugar. In 1878, before the 
agricultural bureau of the Government had developed into the 
Department of Agriculture, and while Dr. Peter Collier was the 
chemist of the bureau, experiments were commenced under his 
direction which were intended to test the possibility of producing 
sugar from sorghum on a large scale and at a low cost. The 
investigation was entered upon with great enthusiasm and be- 
came a matter of wide interest throughout the country. Farmers 
and manufacturers codperated with the Government in pro- 
moting the undertaking and large amounts of capital were in- 
vested in machinery and appliances for the conversion of 
sorghum juices into sugar. The press of the country kept the 
subject prominently before the people and it was for some years 
a common topic of conversation. 
The experiments of the Government were carried on for three 
or four years, but resulted unfavorably. The Commissioner of 
Agriculture remarked that “the business of manufacturing 
sugar from sorghum at the department failed in 1881, having 
furnished discouragement rather than information to those en- 
gaged init.” Thesame year Dr. Collier, at the invitation of the 
Academy, read a paper at its November session in Philadelphia 
on “ Facts regarding Sorghum, and some conclusions as to its 
value as a source of sugar.”’ Professor Silliman, who had intro- 
duced Dr. Collier, then presented the following resolution 
which was approved by the Council: 
“ Resolved, That the subject of sorghum sugar, the experimental results on 
which, obtained during the three or four years last past by Dr. Peter Collier, of the 
Agricultural Department, submitted in brief, by invitation, to the academy at 
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