226 . N. n. STATE AGRICULTmiAL SOCIETY. 



preserved it for a long time by burying the stalks in the 

 ground, notwithstanding the climate of their country is 

 very warm and damp. It will also be observed, that in 

 the manufacture of brandy, or alcohol, the uncrystallizable 

 sugar ean be turned to account, which in a measure would 

 otherwise bo lost. Another advantaa'c consists in the 

 purencss of the juice, which, when thus converted, from the 

 superiority of its quality, can immediately be brought into 

 consumption and use. The alcohol produced by only one 

 distillation is nearly destitute of foreign flavor, having an 

 agreeable taste, somewhat resembling noyau, being much 

 less ardent, or fiery than rum. 



" One of the points M. Vilmorin was desirous of estab- 

 lishing was, at what period of the growth the stalks began 

 to contain sugar, and, consequently, when its manufacture 

 should commence. He came to the conclusion that it co- 

 incided with the putting forth of the spikes ; but the pro- 

 portion of sugar in the stalks continued to increase, until 

 the seeds were in a milky state. In tlic plant in flower, 

 he observed that the amount of sugar diminished in the 

 merithalles (parts of the stalks between the nodes, or 

 joints,) the nearer they were to the top; and also the 

 lower part of each merithalle contained less saccharine 

 matter than the upper. In consequence of this, and owing 

 to the smallness and hardness of the lower knot, the cen- 

 tre of the stock is the richest portion. He was inclined 

 to the opinion that, at a later period, the merithalles lower 

 down the stalk are impoverished in the amount, if not in 

 the quality, of the sugar they contain. The ripeness of 

 the seeds does not appear much to lessen the production 

 of sugar, at least in the climate near Paris ; but in other 

 countries where it matures when the weather is still warm 

 the clTcct may be different. According to the report of M. 

 de Beauregard, addressed to the ' Cornice de Toulon,' the 

 ripening of the sorgho in that latitude had no unfavorable 

 effect; and he considers the seeds and tjie sugar as two 



