340 



been made showing the per cent of sugars extracted in the juice, but 

 calculated on the weight of the dressed cane. From this it will be seen 

 that the medium-sized stalks yield in grinding the largest per cent of 

 total sugars, but the proportion of reducing sugar is greater than in 

 the smallest canes. For sugar making there is probably little differ- 

 ence between the smallest and the medium canes, while the largest are 

 inferior to these." 



Sorghum, improvement by seed selection {pp. 102.-105). — Tabulated notes 

 of the results of analyses of sorghum of different varieties grown from 

 the " best," '• poorest," and " average" seed as determined by the sugar 

 content of the stalks from which the seed was grown. Injury to the 

 crop by chinch-bugs materially interfered with satisfactory results from 

 this experiment. The selection of superior individual canes has been 

 continued and seed from these will be planted another season. An- 

 alyses of nearly seven hundred stalks from fourteen varieties were made in 

 1889 and the results are summarized in a table. ''The highest percent 

 of eane sugar obtained was 16.9 in a stalk of Link's Hybrid. Stalks of 

 Kansas Orange and Late Orange, however, showed a higher per cent 

 of total sugars, the highest being 18.9 in Kansas Orange." 



Sorghum, crossing of varieties (pp. 105-107). — In 1888 some forty va- 

 rieties of sorghum were grown side by side ; from these selections of 

 seed were made, which were planted in 1889. The crop from this seed 

 showed a considerable number of crosses. This is contrary to the opin- 

 ion of some authorities on sorghum culture, who have maintained that 

 varieties of this plant have Httle or no tendency to cross. Tabulated 

 notes on analyses of a number of crosses obtained at the station are 

 given. 



Sorghum, time of planting (p. 108). — Four varieties were planted at four 

 different dates at intervals of eight days, beginning with April 16. 



The earlier plantings germinated less satisfactorily and made a slow growth. 

 They matured somewhat earlier than the later plantings, but there was no perceptible 

 difference in the two first plantings, and scarcely any between these and the third. 

 The character of the season, however, had much to do with the slow growth of the 

 early plants ; it was a cold and backward spring until about the first of May. The 

 lesson, however, is obvious : It is a loss and not a gain to plant before the soil is warm. 

 But the ground should be ready to take advantage of the first warm, growing weather. 

 The plant must be fully matured to get the best results, and the season will be length- 

 ened by planting to utilize this earliest warm weather. 



Analyses of feeding stuffs (108-120). — The technical terms used in re- 

 porting analyses of feeding stuffs are explained, a brief account is 

 given of the functions of the various food ingredients for nutrition, and 

 the methods of analyses of feeding stuffs employed at the station are 

 described. The methods of analysis were those adopted by the Asso- 

 ciation of Official Agricultural Chemists, with certain modifications de- 

 scribed in the report. A table gives the results of analyses of the 

 seed of Kaffir corn, sorghum, and millo maize, and of corn chop, bran, 

 shorts, ship stuff, sorghum leaves, hay, cotton-seed meal, turnips, ruta- 



