Emerson.] 118 [December. 



to the acre than much richer land. I have known land which would 

 not yield over twenty bushels of Indian corn per acre, give one hun- 

 dred gallons of the richest sorghum syrup; as much as has been pro- 

 duced in some other places from land yielding fifty and sixty bushels 

 of corn per acre. Although I have stated the produce of the sorghum 

 at some one hundred to one hundred and fifty gallons per acre, this is 

 but a moderate estimate. Mr. Lovering obtained at the rate of sixteen 

 hundred and twelve pounds of sugar, and eighty-two gallons of molasses 

 per acre, and states that he had heard of an instance where the pro- 

 duct near Philadelphia was at the rate of four thousand four hundred 

 and ninety-nine pounds of sugar, and two hundred and seventy-four 

 gallons of molasses to the acre ! He gives the strongest reasons to 

 believe, that the saccharine yield per acre of the Chinese sorghum in 

 the Middle States, will be fully equal to that from the tropical cane 

 in Louisiana. 



In Europe, where they have been so extensively engaged in manu- 

 facturing sugar from the beet, this root has been found to furnish the 

 largest proportion of crystallizable sugar in the Northern provinces, 

 where the great manufactories now chiefly exist. Reversing this or- 

 der, the Chinese sorghum yields its greatest amount of crystallizable 

 sugar in the Southern provinces. 



As yet no regular plan has been adopted in this country to sepa- 

 rate the sugar of the sorghum syrup from its glucose, and some ex- 

 pert chemists have been signally foiled in their efforts, and even 

 gone so far as to pronounce it impracticable. Others have succeeded 

 much better. Among these, I will name Mr. J. S. Lovering of this 

 city, an extensive sugar refiner, who has most satisfactorily demon- 

 strated the practicability of obtaining from sorghum raised near Phila- 

 delphia, all the grades of sugar, from the lowest quality of Musca- 

 vado to the best loaf. No fears need be entertained that this object 

 will not soon be attained through easy methods. Meantime there 

 seems to be a strong tendency in syrups well manufactured from ma- 

 ture cane, to deposit, under certain favorable circumstances, granulated 

 sugar spontaneously. Instances of this kind have come under my no- 

 tice, where considerable quantities of granulated sugar were obtained 

 without any artificial process. The field is fairly open to experiment, 

 and rich rewards may soon be confidently expected. The similarity 

 existing between the climates of the United States and China, leads 

 us naturally to anticipate superior advantages from the culture in 

 our country of the sugar-cane of the Northern provinces of China. 



