46 THE SWEET POTATO. 



than the sweet potato, has been tried and has proved 

 unprofitable. With the manufacture of sugar from 

 the sweet potato we may then as well wait until 

 the making of sorghum sugar is a profitable business. 



Still sorghum is an important source for molasses 

 in the South, and there is no reason why the sweet 

 potato should not so be utilized. Other starch 

 crops, such as corn and Irish potatoes, always yield 

 a big product of glucose, manufactured from the 

 starch, which could not be separated, and the glucose 

 already contained in the plant. Here the sweet 

 potato is certainly superior to either, as the percent- 

 age of glucose is high and the additional amount 

 of cane sugar would be a very desirable factor in 

 manufacturing syrups. 



The syrup should be an important product in a 

 sweet potato starch factory. No reliable data are 

 at hand to show whether the refuse, after starch and 

 sugar have been separated, would still be useful as 

 cattle feed. 



On account of this high total percentage of starch, 

 glucose, and sucrose, the sweet potato should prove 

 a good source for the manufacture of alcohol. 



