1851 .'} Sugar from the African Sorghum. 249 



ized sugar. His arrival at this moment of our first experience with 

 the sorgho can not but be considered most opportune, and the very 

 valuable information which he possesses will be of the first consequence 

 in its prospective bearing upon our national revenue. 



Mr. Wrat commenced by stating that he had discovered, growing 

 wild upon the southwest coast of Caifraria, the curious plant imphee, 

 which was in common use among the natives as an article of food. 

 He had been so favorably impressed with its qualities as to under- 

 take protracted journeys to collect new varieties, and met with such 

 success, as to procure no less than sixteen distinct kinds of greater 

 or less saccharine richness. Some of the more precocious ones will 

 complete their growth in three months, while others require as long 

 as four and five. 



The names of the sixteen varieties are as follows : JVce a-za-na, 

 Oom-se-a-na, Boom-ve-va-na, Shla-goo-va, Shla -goon-dee, Vim-his- 

 chu-a-pa, U-a-na-moo-dee, Zim-moo-ma-na, Zim-bu-za-na, E-bofh-la, 

 E-thlo-sa, J3oo-ee-a-na, En-ya-ma. Koom-ha-na, See-en-gla-na, and 

 E-en-gha. The first four of these are of quick growth, and will 

 produce one crop of sugar at the North ; the others are suitable for 

 the South, and some of them will give two full crops. 



For feeding to stock, Mr. Wray says there are no crops possess- 

 ing an advantage over these Imphees. They are fully equal to 

 southern cane, and are greedily eaten by every description of stock. 

 He had fed his horses, cattle and pigs on them. The idea has been 

 advanced by some in this country that the hogasses, (stalks which 

 have been crushed for sugar-making) would be good feed for stock, 

 but Mr. Wray had lost some animals from making use of them, 

 and on opening their stomachs after death the fibrous Sorgho stalks 

 were found to have formed into hard balls and accumulated in 

 such indigestible masses as to cause death. If, however, the bogasscs 

 had been fed with the scum which is removed from the boilers, this 

 bad effect would not have been experienced. If fed green, as are 

 cured corn stalks, there can be no more profitable or nutritious ar- 

 ticle employed, and for this alone its cultivation would be profitable, 

 These crushed stalks, or bogasscs, make an excellent paper, and Mr. 

 Wray has samples in England which are superior to straw paper. 



Judge Meigs desired to know if there was much value in the seed. 

 Mr. Wray said that for a feed for fowls there could be no better, 

 and that from his African Imphees very fine bread can be made. 

 The Chinese variety is not so good for this purpose, because of the 



