374 Sorgho Sucre — Sweet Millet. [August, 



of from ten to twelve feet. The stalk is of a greenisLj yellow color, 

 with long, narrow blades of delicate fibre, and the seed appears at the 

 end. In many respects the cane resembles in appearance the plant 

 known as the broom corn. From the season when the stalk has 

 attained one-third of its growth, up to its full size and ripening, it is 

 exceedingly succulent; and an incision into it, followed by compression, 

 will give exit to a clean, colorless fluid, as sweet as the syrup of sugar. 



From my scant store of seed, I supplied a few friends with each a 

 mite, in view of obviating any circumstances that might defeat my 

 purpose of testing the qualities and merits ascribed to this new plant. 

 Our success in its cultivation was entirely satisfactory, and we had the 

 mutual pleasure of agreement in the views we entertained of it, as 

 being a production entitled to the notice of farmers. As a green, pal- 

 atable, wholesome, and nutritious food for cattle and hogs, at a season 

 when pasturage grows short, it has no equal to anything that can be 

 raised on our land with equal ease and facility. It is heavy, tender, 

 crisp and jucy; and these qualities predominate even when the stalk 

 is fully grown and the seed has ripened. The avidity with which it is 

 eaten at this time is surprising. To see a stalk as long as an ordinary 

 sized fishing pole, disappear inch by inch in the mouth of a cow, after 

 she has once tasted its juice, is a sight both amusing and interesting. 

 It requires no patented chopper or cutting box to prepare it for her 

 stomach. It is no less worthy of remark, that the poles have been 

 observed to reach and produce a very good eflPect upon the milk recep- 

 tacle of the animal. 



As the sugar cane requires but very little room literally for its 

 growth, an acre will yield a vast amount of weight in food, and, as it 

 grows rapidly, it may be cut at any stage when necessity requires it. 

 If cut when it has attained a hight of three or four feet, a number of 

 shoots will spring up from the roots of each plant, and in a short time 

 afford a second or even a third crop from the same piece of ground. At 

 the season of cutting up corn for winter fodder, the stalks of the sugar 

 cane may be fed whole to horses, cattle or hogs, without fear of waste; 

 and at a later period they afford when cut into pieces, a highly nutritious 

 food. There will be no looking for leaves among the pieces, nor tedious 

 mastications, nor terrors of choking, but a speedy devouring of the repast. 



The per centage of saccharine matter, consisting chiefly of sugar, 

 gum, fecula and gluten, afforded by this vegetable, greatly exceeds that 

 of any other production of the land in this neighborhood ; and it is 

 needless to say that to the presence of this principle belougs the chief 

 value of stock-feeding crops. Joseph H. Ray, M.D. 



