AGRICULTURAL HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION OP SORGHUM. 33 



not because of its forage, or even its sirup value, but as a probable 

 source of sugar. It was then known as sorgho in Europe and 

 America. 



In May, 1857,° the sixteen saccharine varieties obtained by Mr. 

 Leonard Wray in Natal in 1851 were brought by him from Europe 

 to the United States at the request of Hon. Horace Greeley. They 

 were not distributed to the public, but were first sown in South Caro- 

 lina and Georgia under Mr. Wray's immediate supervision. He had 

 taken out United States patents on his method of making sirup and 

 sugar, and is said to have purposed controlling the income from the 

 use of his varieties. These African varieties were known collectively 

 as " imphee," each variety having in addition a native Zulu name. 

 The names of the varieties, as published by Olcott (1857), were as 

 follows: Vimbischuapa, Eanamoodee, E-engha, Neeazana, Boom- 

 vwana, Oomseeana, Shlagoova, Shlagoondee, and Zimmoomana, with 

 brief descriptions, and Ebothla, Booeeana, Koombana, See-engla, 

 Zimbazana, and Ethlosa, mentioned by name only. In the pronun- 

 ciation of these names each vowel, except where doubled, is the basis 

 of a syllable. Though only fifteen names appear, Mr. Wray states 

 that sixteen varieties w T ere obtained by him in Xatal. Many years 

 later Wray 6 identified plate 5 in Special Report No, 33 of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture and in the report of this Department for 

 1880 as his " Enyama," which is not given in the list above, but was 

 doubtless the sixteenth variety. A varietv was on sale in the city of 

 New York under this name in the spring of 1859. 



Between the years 1860 and 1880 agents were sent to China c to 

 discover and bring back other varieties, and considerable importa- 

 tions were made also from South Africa and India. No other sac- 

 charine varieties were found in China, though several ordinary kow- 

 liangs were obtained. The importations from Africa, though coming 

 under names very different from those of Mr. Wray's forms, appar- 

 ently did not represent any new varieties. The Indian varieties were 

 either nonsaccharine or so slightly saccharine as to be valueless for 

 sirup or sugar production. They were mostly too late to be of much 

 value for forage and grain. 



All these varieties were soon as widely distributed over the country 

 as their particular climatic adaptations would permit. Hybridiza- 

 tion, variation, and selection, combined with the desire of growers to 



a Hedges, I. A. Rural New Yorker, vol. 40, May 7, 1881, p. 1. American 

 Agriculturist, vol. 16, 1857, pp. 142, 276-277. 



6 See Collier, 1884, p. 68. 



c Sorgo Journal, vol. 7, October, 1869, p. 91; Collier, 1884, loc. cit., pp. 76-82; 

 American Agriculturist, vol. 45, April, 1886, pp. 153-154; Bulletin 20, Bureau of 

 Chemistry, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1889, pp. 112, 119. 

 175 



