SORGHUM AS A SUGAR PRODUCING PLANT. 423 



the same place? Surely, oa this point, there can be but one opinion, namely, 

 that these canes were totally unfit for sugar-making. 



The theoretical per cent, of available sugar in the Louisiana cane was 6.86 

 to 85.5 per cent, extraction, the yield per ton, theoretically, would be 115.3 

 lbs. The actual yied per ton was 144 lbs. Without discussing further the 

 details of the experiment with the sugar-cane, I desire to call your attention 

 to the following points: 



1 Sorghum canes manufactured at Fort Scott gave a yield of 21.6 lbs. 

 sugar per ton. 



2 Louisiana sugar-cane, manufactured at the same place, by identically 

 the same processes, and under identical conditions, save that the temperature 

 of diffusion was 20° higher, gave 144 lbs. sugar per ton. 



The sorghum cane, therefore, grown at Fort Scott, was seven times less 

 valuable for sugar-making than the sugar-cane. 



I am fully convinced of the fact, however, that had the machinery at Fort 

 Scott been perfect, so that the sorghum could have been promptly worked 

 at maturity, the quantity of sugar it would have made would have been 

 greatly increased. 



There is one point in the above resume of especial interest. It is seen that 

 the temperature of diffusion with the sugar-cane was 20° higher than that 

 used with sorghum. It is also seen by the ratio of glucose to sucrose that the 

 process of diffusion with sugar-cane had no sensible effect in diminishing the 

 quanity of sucrose which it contained ; in others words, converting it into glu- 

 cose. This fact is incontestable. It, therefore, follows, that if sorghum cane is 

 in fit condition for sugar-making, there is ho possibility of its sucrose becoming 

 inverted in the process of diffusion, especially when this process is carried on 

 20° lower than that mentioned for sugar-cane. It follows, therefore, that if 

 the process of diffusion did invert the sucrose in the sorghum cane at Fort 

 Scott, it was because this cane entered the diffusion battery in an unfit 

 condition for sugar-making. This, unfortunately, to a large extent, was 

 true, as I have fully set forth in Bulletin No. 14. In the light of the above 

 facts, it will be seen how absurd is the claim, which has been made, that the 

 sorghum crop work at Fort Scott was exceptionally rich in sugar — richer, 

 even, than the sugar-cane of Louisiana. 



A writer of the Chicago Journal of Commerce, under date of July 6, 1887, 

 makes the following remarkable statement, after quoting the results of a 

 single analysis on an armful of sorghum cane : 



''Now the above shows in each ton of cane 238.5 lbs. total sugar, of which 

 169 lbs. were available. Such was the average crop of cane, according to the 

 very best, and, indeed, the only method by which its value could be ascer- 

 tained." 



It is upon such statements as these that the erroneous impressions, which 

 are current in many localities, in respect of the sugar-producing properties of 

 sorghum canes are based. 



In the forgoing pages I have endeavored to set forth, in their true light, 

 all the facts, which thirty years of investigation have discovered in respect of 

 the sugar-producing qualities of sorghum. I have not omitted any which 

 have come under my observation, and which have any importance in the 

 discussion, different in kind or degree from those which have been cited. It 

 has not been my object, since I have been investigating this subject to bolster 

 up any pet theory, nor to dispute any that others may entertain. As a public 



