September i, 1884.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



187 



bhi iew, with the low Woody Islands and lightbou i 

 upon the hosom of the water like littl floating 



on the 1 the bulky form of 



Looms in th , and lying over to- 



wai Is it, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, is old Peter 

 looking smaller through the distance than his little 

 brother. Still nearer the gazi bhesombre- 



i 1 then turning to the southward, 

 over the Valley of the Mosrrj m, u ay be i away in the 

 distance' the very lip t | i : big Black Mountain. The 



Fairymount selection is all scrub, a strip of which, about 

 50 acres, is cleared down to the river bank, A small 

 patch of cane is grown here which will be planted out 

 boys arrive; they arc expected by Mr. 

 :i .1 ■■!■. Following still further up the 



Mosman Valley are N. M'Le ire selections and 



others. On entering the mouth of the river from the 

 bay the first landing is a1 W. Thomson's. Very little 

 of this farm ean be seen from the river, as the house 

 is built a good way back, and the passage to and from 

 the port is principally by the road. The name of this 

 homestea I, which is one of the oldest on the river, is 

 blllendale. It is principally a dairying farm. The next, 

 and I should say the pretti ■ on this river, is 



Buchanan's. It is a 10 k, scrub, with a little 



ridgy countr; Seen from a slight distance it looks like 

 a fairy garden. About fifty , d and m >stl\ 



cultivated. A splendid vineyard is planted on a hill, and 

 the vines seem to do well. No I 



from them except on two or three vines which were a 

 little more forward than the rest of the planting last 

 season. As far as the fruit is concerned I anticipate a 

 great success next Season. 



On the north side of the river are one or two selec- 

 tions with no improvements as yet; then you come to 

 Mr. It. < >. Jones's selection. This is a fine scrub property, 

 in all nearly 1,700 acres; forty are cleared and mostly 

 under maize ami potatoes, besides a large variety of fruit 

 trees, among which. I noticed a line row of flat 

 trees 1 was over during the time they were bearing, 

 and although the trees are not so prolific of fruit as 

 thosi down South, still the fruit is of a rich and rare 

 flavour. The Mosman River post-office business is con- 

 ducted here bj Mr. rones, who is the postmaster. The 

 weekly mail li a s the Mosman everj Thursday, and re- 

 tinae from Port Dou ;las the following morning. This is 

 as tiers here, ai \l i 



dene . by the mail hi at conveys p; and a 



tgh but toe . From 



Tort Douglas, there i , bridle tract foi tl 



lerf ft is i pected that the I lai 

 re;i I n II shot : I b ' l ei hand; it will run t 



the cent re of the Mosman settl ments cross 

 Creek to the wharf sites on the Daintree River 

 ship Reserve. The great difficulty with the divi 



with others is the want of the 

 ' stuff." — Qiiet nstander 



SORGHUM SUGAR. 



HY OSCAH HOUCK, PH.IJ. 



The different kinds of sorghum (Sorghum 

 now under cultivation in the' United Stites. are varieties 

 and hybrids from two main groups ; the one the Chinese 



Bugai cane, or sorgho. te, from China and India, 



and the second the African sugar erne, or imphee, from 

 the south of All ict. As varieties of the first group, we 

 have the regular Borghum, Mender-, iane, honey top, 

 Bprangle top, etc. Of the second group the most important 

 are the Siberian imphees, white African, white mammoth, 



Iowa red top, and wolfs tail. As hybrids, tl arly amber 



is the most common, early orange and a number of others. 

 ' hybrids ueed,as also their names indicate, a shorter 



time to attain maturity, and are therefore i , adapted 



for the more northern range. Wisconsin, Minnesota, etc., 

 where the season is rather short; while the countries fur- 

 ther south, with a longer season, h [vantage that 

 they can utilize both the early and and thus 

 be aide to supply ihe mills for a I iane; besides 

 that they also ize the other 



i 

 uui la. lie the 



most favourable soil for its cultivation. 



The first seeds of tho new sugar cane were brought to 

 America in 1854, from France, whore they had been im- 

 ported from China only a few years previous. Not 

 afterwards also seeds of the African variety found their 

 way over here. And now sorghum is to be found cultiv- 

 ated almost in all parts of the United States, wheri 

 climate is favourable to its growth ; and it is sai 

 where maize will thrive sorghum also will. 



Its principal use has, until Lately, been confined 

 mere production of syrup, as a very sweet, and, to most 

 persons, agreeable article of this kind may be prepared by 

 means of quite inexpensive machinery. But the production 

 ol a cheap, marketable sugar from it has, until the last 

 three years, met with no success. Sugar has, of Co I 

 been prodcued from it long before this, but on accout 

 inferior machinery and limited means it would not pay. 

 It is also said that a fatty substance is contained i 

 juice of sorghum, which hindered the crystallization of the 

 sugar, and necessitated another process than thai u ed 

 for the common sugar cane. The first sugar i 

 tained from sorghum was made by a farmer in Wi 

 sin (according to Professor Carl Mohr). In ls.j.s .(. S. I. 

 ing, a chemist of Philadelphia, received tin- gold medal 

 from the United States Agricultural Society, as an acknow- 

 ledgment for his successful and meritorius experiment.' in 

 sugar making from sorghum (Amer. Journ. Pharm., 1855, 

 p, I _' ; 1858, p. 105). In spite of the publication of Ids 

 no attempt was road- to utilize it. Later, through 

 the Commissioner of the Department of Agricultui 



Washington, G. W. Le Due. a great deal was dene i let 



to arouse the interest for it, that new experiments should 

 bi en lertaken, Steward, a Pennsylvania chemist, also 

 treated the subject, and showed at the Centennial Exhib- 

 ition, in 1876, samples of sugar which he had obt 

 by his experiments. AVith still greater energy Dr. Collier, 

 chemist of the Agricultural Department at Washington 

 took up the work, and of the results of his thorou 

 vestigations he has given a minute account in his s, . a] 

 reports, which has thrown much light on the subject 



At the same time Professor Swenson, of the University 

 of Wisconsin, was occupied with investigations of the same 

 kind, and when the United states Government, through the 

 Agricultural Department at Washington, offered a prize "I 

 1,200 dollars for the best method ot treating sorghum earn 

 it was awarded to him 



Some New York capitalists, after having corresponded 

 with Professor Swenson and secured his service, dote, 

 to establish a sugar mill in some portion of the country, 

 where the i ui< could be grown successfully and cheaply 

 The Arkansas river valley was decided upon, and in 1882 

 the mill was built at Hutchinson, Kansas. Vs an experi 

 nieut some sugar was since a" m le, aire: I v. lie 

 same season. Last fall (1883) thej made as an average 

 forty barrels of sugar and about two hundred gallons ol 

 syrup a day. This was the first undertaking on a large 

 scale, and, as it proved a success, others have followed 

 their example, and many more are likely to follow. 



The process used in the abovenamed mill I ban not 

 seen myself, Bui will give it as it has been described 

 The cane, having been examined by tho chemist and found 

 in the desirable ripe condition (when it contains most sac 

 and lead glucose), is cut, topped, and hauled to 

 the mill without stripping. Arrived there it is placed on 

 a long endless belt, which ac.ts as an elevator to carry it 

 to the crusher, which consists of huge iron rollers. The 

 cane is passed through this crusher at the rate of t 

 five tons per hour. The juice, as it runs from the i 



into a large tank, from which it is pumped into 

 the defecating room. Here it is run into six defecating 

 pans, capable of holding three tons of juice each. In these 

 are coils of copper tubing, (lie ch steam i- | 



to heat the juice. To the lukewarm juice is then added 

 milk of lime, until slightly alkaline, in order to neutralize 

 Is, which are always contained in it, and to coagulate 

 li, ■ albumin si-, m id r psi sent. It is then heated as rapidlj 



. 5 point, and the si, am is shut off 



when th- thick scum, which rises to the surface, begins to 



swell a,, 'aii.ni, - th i juice is s!. a 



and it is again heated, this time to a quite ebullitioi 

 i!- again skimmed. Tin- is r, t 

 result is a very clear juice, almost free from sediment. 



