SUGAR FROM SORaUUM. 171 



ing into a hen-coop and robbing it, and two witnesses were brought 

 who saw the fellow go into the coop and come out with the chickens, 

 and the attorney for the defense called in ten witneses who testified 

 that they had not seen him, and the justice acquitted him because 

 the balance of testimony was in his favor. Now, this negative tes- 

 timony of a cloud of witnesses really amounts to nothing as compared 

 with positive testimony. I see no reason to doubt but that any of 

 you can fully corroborate all my results. Year before last I exper- 

 imented with four varieties of sorghum, and I must say the results 

 were very surprising. They were all planted the same day, right 

 along side of each other, on the 16th of May. So soon as the plants 

 had begun to top out, the seed had begun to appear, they were then 

 in a condition so that many farmers would have plucked them and 

 worked them up for sugar or syrup. I question very much whether, 

 for two months succeeding, they gained ten per cent, in weight, — 

 they maj- have done so. It was practically a maximum crop at that 

 time. Then the examinations were begun. Every two or three 

 days I went into the field and cut two or three stalks from each row. 

 The dimensions and weight of those stalks were taken, the juice 

 expressed and the sugar determined by well known methods. Every 

 two or three days this was repeated, and so on during the season. 

 The result of these examinations it seems to me fully explains why 

 we have failed, as I say, for the past twent3^-five years ; and it 

 explains how we may expect to succeed in the future. 



I have placed some charts on the wall in the rear of the stage 

 which I will explain, for the whole matter is there so it speaks for 

 itself. 



On the 18th of July the juice of one variety of sorghum called 

 " Early Amber," contains as you see, about 4| per cent, of sugar. 

 That is, 100 lbs. of juice contained about 4^ lbs. of sugar. Let us 

 see what was true a month later. On the 18th of August this con- 

 tained 14| per cent, of the sugar in the juice. On the 18th of July 

 it contained 4^ of crystallizable sugar in the juice, and it contained 

 nearly Sf per cent, of uncr3'stallizable sugar ; that is of the total 

 sugars present in the juice nearly one-half were uncrystallizable. 

 Now it would require extreme care to obtain even at the rate of ten 

 pounds of sugar to the acre from that crop in that condition. On 

 the 18th of August, however, this uncrystallizable sugar run clear 

 down to about 13 per cent. In a month this uncrystallizable sugar 

 had increased about 400 per cent. In that condition those juices 



