THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



lor, 



THE SUGAR MILLET. 



The letters of " The English Farmer in France," 

 which have appeared in our columns lately, have 

 directed prominent attention to the Sorghum ; and as 

 we have before us at the present moment a large 

 amount of information connected with its introduction 

 and attempted culture in various quarters, we shall 

 endeavour to summarize these for more ready re- 

 ference by those who are desirous of investigating the 

 matter or experimentalizing on the plant. The sub- 

 ject appears to be attracting attention in France, Spain, 

 and other parts of the continent, in the United States 

 and Canada, and in Australia. Very full details have 

 been published in many of the American journals, in 

 the Report on Agriculture of the American Commis- 

 sioners of Patents, in the transactions of the Canadian 

 agricultural Societies, and elsewhere. 



It appears to be eminently useful as a forage plant, 

 irrespective even of its saccharine juice. The average 

 yield of cane, according to Mr. Wray, is stated to be 

 as much as 20 tons, and of seed 60 bushels, to the acre. 

 The Chinese millet (the Sorghum saccharatum) has 

 large black seeds; the other variety of the same plant 

 (the African imphee, as it has been termed) has much 

 smaller and lighter seed ; but, like maize, there appear 

 to be numberless varieties of the same species, resulting 

 from climate, culture, soil, and locality. The seed is 

 reported to be useful as a bread-corn, and also valu- 

 able for starch-making. The culture of the plant 

 has not been very successful in England, but then we 

 arc not aware that It has been tried to any extent as a 

 forage crop. 



Since its introduction into the United States, this 

 plant has proved itself well adapted to the geographi- 

 cal range of Indian corn. It is of easy cultivation, 

 being similar to that of maize or of brown corn ; and if 

 the seeds are planted in May in the middle States, or 

 still earlier at the South, two crops of fodder can be 

 grown in a season from the sanje roots, irrespective of 

 drought : the first one in June or July, to be cut be- 

 fore the panicles appear, which would be green and 

 succulent like young Indian corn ; and the other a 

 month or two later, when or_before the seed is fully 

 matured. It appears to resist the effects of consider- 

 able frost without injury, after the panicles appear. 

 Those who wish to sow the seed should not cultivate it 

 in the vicinity of Dourah corn (Sorghum vulgare) — of 

 another species of millet, known as chocolate corn in 

 Virginia— nor of broom corn, as it hybridizes or mixes 

 freely with those plants, which would render the seeds 

 of the product unfit for that use. The Patent Com- 

 missioners' Report (Washington) states that " The 

 amount of fodder which this plant will produce to the 

 acre, with ordinary cultivation, may be safely estimated 

 at 7 tons when green, or at least 2 tons per acre when 

 thoroughlj cured. The stalks when nearly mature are 

 filled with a rich saccharine juice, which may be con- 



verted into sugar, syrup, alcohol, or beer, or may bo 

 used for dyeing wool or silk a permanent red or pink ; 

 and the entire plant is devoured with avidity, either in 

 a green or a dry state, by horses, cattle, sheep, and 

 swine." 



In cultivating it for sugar, the American writers 

 recommend that the Sorghum should be allowed to 

 perfect its seeds, " and that such as do not perfect 

 their seeds will afford but little or no sugar." Now this 

 is adverse to the common-sense view, and certainly con- 

 trary to practice in sugar-cane cultivation, for the 

 canes are never allowed to " arrow" or flower before 

 they are cut. 



In Africa, the Kaffirs always take off the seed-head 

 before maturing ; and although seed-heads afterwards 

 form upon side-heads, the cane is generally cut be- 

 fore these mature, The sap or juice of stalks not pro- 

 ducing seed is more limpid and more readily crystal- 

 lizable than from stalks that have ripened their seed. 

 We therefore must doubt the assertion that " the proper 

 time for cutting and making syrup is when the seed be- 

 comes black, and considerably hard and full in size ; 

 then the juice is in its best flavour, and will make the 

 best-flavoured molasses." 



From the experiments already carried on in Canada, 

 it is not probable that this plant will suit for any pur- 

 pose but that of a forage crop in the province. The 

 sorghum is said to have matured its seed last year as 

 far north as Montreal. 



The failure of the sugar-cane in the United States, 

 and the high price of sugar some time back, make the 

 question of the discovery of a new sugar-producing 

 plant of interest even to those who may not be able to 

 grow it for that purpose. Inquiry has been lately set on 

 foot in North America and Europe for s"&ccharine plants 

 adapted to the terhperate zone, which may be profit- 

 ably employed in the production of sugar. That there 

 is no lack of plants from which sugar may be made, 

 is well known. Indian-corn, the sugar-maple, and 

 some other trees, the beet-root and sundry other escu- 

 lents, contain and yield a considerable proportion of 

 saccharine sap, but generally obtained at a cost above 

 that at which it can be extracted from the cane. 



The Sorghum saccharatum, or sugar millet, which 

 has long been grown in China and Southern Africa for 

 its sweet sap, is believed to be adapted to temperate 

 latitudes, and will yield nearly or quite as bountifully, 

 in view of this relative cost, as the tropical sugar- 

 cane. 



There are some statements put forth, with respect to 

 this sugar millet, which are very questionable. Firstly, 

 the opinion that the seeds are poisonous when fed to 

 stock, is perfectly ridiculous. The seed of a variety of 

 the imphee, the Kaffir millet — very similar in appear- 

 ance, but different in character— is the staple corn food 

 of the natives. 



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