THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



435 



THE CULTURE AND PRODUCT OF THE SORGHO PLANT. 



The growing importance of the Sorgho plant in 

 many countries, and the increasing attention that is 

 being paid to its experimental culture, justifies the no- 

 tice we have already given to it, and seems to demand 

 a few more words of elucidation at our hands. 



The culture of the plant appears to be fast spreading 

 over the Australian Colonies, in North America, and 

 in Europe, and inquiries respecting it and applications 

 for seed have recently been addressed to the India 

 House from officials and others in the Presidencies. 

 We have before us now no less than seven French 

 pamphlets* and two English ones, specially treating of 

 the Sorgho, and supplying many useful details as to the 

 results, agricultural and economical, that have at- 

 tended its culture and the manufacture of its products 

 in the various departments of France. 



It maybe therefore useful to give a resume of some 

 of the information thus furnished by practical agricul- 

 turists, for the use of other distant cultivators, if not 

 for the farmers of our own islands. 



While we are ready to make every allowance for the 

 enthusiasm and exaggerated opinions of those who have 

 experimentally tested the culture of this sugar millet, 

 there must evidently be solid foundation for the good 

 reports thus furnished by cultivators, members of the 

 Imperial Central Society of Agriculture, and metro- 

 politan and provincial French agricultural journals. 



If one-tenth part of the value assigned to it by 

 its various eulogists be but true, it is certainly a most 

 useful and important plant, of which it would be well 

 that we should know more. 



There is much that is new in these several treatises, 

 which, as they are all of recent date, can scarcely have 

 met the eye of many of our readers ; and therefore an 

 abstract will form a useful addendum to the information 

 we published a month or two ago. 



Scientific men seem scarcely yet agreed as to the 

 specific botanic name which it is to receive. By some 

 it is dubbed the Holciis saccharatas ; with others it 

 is the Sorghum vulgar e, or the Andropogon Sorghum. 

 But this is a matter of very little consequence at pre- 

 sent. We shall deal with it here under its po- 

 pular name of the Chinese sugar millet, or the sugar 

 Sorgho, as the French term it. It is probably the same 

 plant which was cultivated by Peter Arduino for sugar, 

 in Florence, nearly a century ago. The dark black 



* " Recherche3 sur le Sorgho sucre ;" par Louis Vilmorin. 

 " De I'Introductiou et de rAcclimatatioa du Sorgho dans le 

 Nord de la France ;" par Dumont-Carment. " Le Sorgho 

 Sucre, sa Culture, &c. ;" par Louis Herve. " Le Sorgho a 

 Sucre ;" par Paul Madinier. " Monographs de la Canne a 

 Sucre de la Chine, dite ' Sorgho a Sucre';" par le docteur 

 Sicard. "'Guide du Cultivateur du Sorgho a. Sucre;" par 

 Madiuier et Lacoste. " Guide du Distillateur du Sorgho a 

 Sucre ;" par Bourdais. " On the Cultivation and Uses of 

 Sorgho, or Sugsrgrass," by W. Hartley ; McQsr?. Birdseye 

 and Co,, 12, St. Bfiiict's Court, Gr&cechurcli-street. 



seeds of this millet are a broad mark of distinction 

 over the other varieties ; none of which have seeds of 

 the same hue, although several varieties have red or 

 dark brown seeds. 



The seed is sown in France between the l.'jth of 

 April and the l-Oth of May, from 6 to91bs. to the acre, 

 according to the mode of sowing broadcaster drill. 



The question of whether millet is an exhausting crop 

 has been occupying a considerable share of attention, 

 and opinion seems to hold that it is not, especially if 

 the stems and leaves be returned to the soil ; and 

 maize would appear to be a good succession crop. 

 Whether the plant is an annual or a perennial is yet 

 undetermined in France. For a green crop, the 

 oftener it is cut the better it thrives ; and its principal 

 merit on the Continent, in this sense, seems to be that it 

 yields valuable forage in September and October, when 

 the last crop of clover or lucern has been got in. 



Not satisfied with the plant for its seed, for forage, 

 and for sugar, the Fi'ench are pushing it into notice 

 for other economic products, and especially for the 

 manufacture of spirit, cider, and vinegar. Thus, M. 

 Herve tells us that an hectare (2 acres) of vines furnish 

 in the best years of vintage 100 hectolitres of wine, 

 which yield, on distillation, 10 to 12 hectolitres of 

 alcohol, worth at 50 francs about 500 francs. An 

 hectare of Sorgho, on the contrary, will yield at the 

 least 40,000 kilogrammes of canes or stems, which 

 will produce 30 to 40 hectolitres of alcohol, worth 

 1,500 to 2,000 francs, or a difierence in value of three 

 or four times as much as the grapes will yield. 



Rum equal to West Indian has been made from the 

 juice in France. The syrup is largely used for pre- 

 serving fi-uits. A pleasant beverage is prepared from it 

 far preferable to raisin wine. Mixed with the juice of 

 apples or pears, it possesses a pleasant flavour, which is 

 much appreciated. A vinegar of good quality is made 

 from it. The seeds form a nourishing and fattening food 

 for poultry, and no insects seem to touch the plant. 



Another advantage seems to be that the cane may be 

 kept, when dried, for many months, without injuring 

 the quality of the juice. This is a great convenience 

 and a considerable superiority over the sugar-cane, 

 which must be submitted to the mill within a day, 

 or the juice turns sour, and the sugar is spoiled. 



Although the south is the most favourable climate 

 for the successful culture of the sugar millet, it is pro- 

 gressing towards the north. It has passed the Loire ; 

 is cultivated in Brittany, in Orleans, in Normandy, in 

 Beauce, and close to Picardy. In Brittany it is grown, 

 however, solely as a forage plant. But, at Amiens, 

 M. Dumont-Carment has received a medal from the 

 Agricultural Committee of his arrondissement for the 

 introduction and acclimatation of the plant so far 



north, 



G Q 



