514 Voyage of the Novara. 



mended to plant tlie seeds in furrows sufficiently separated 

 from each other according to the conditions of soil and irriga- 

 tion, so far as is possible. 



The period of germination of the Sorgho is rather long, but 

 once that period is passed, the most favourable results are 

 sure to follow, even should the most unusual alternations of 

 temperature ensue, provided the thermometer does not de- 

 scend below 27°. 5 Fahr. The Sorgho requires about five 

 months to attain its full ripeness, when it is usually of a 

 pale-yellow colour, streaked with red. It is occasionally 

 subject to diiferent maladies, some of which attack the root, 

 others the pith. In like manner the larvae of certain noxious 

 insects have been remarked on occasional specimens. But 

 the origin of all these drawbacks has been as yet far too little 

 inquired into, and they are of too rare occurrence to permit 

 of any definite information respecting them being as yet 

 available. 



On the whole, the cultivation of the Sorgho may be re- 

 garded as eminently successful in the South of France, as 

 well as in Pennsylvania, U. S. (which has a much severer 

 climate than Venetia, Dalmatia, or the lower course of the 

 Danube). Very probably we may also succeed in naturaliz- 

 ing the Sorgho in suitable parts of Austria, and introducing 

 there the cultivation on a commensurate scale* of a plant, 



* Some experiments on a small scale were made with the Sorgho at Aquileia near 

 Gorz, by M. Karl Ritter, a well-known merchant and sugar refiner, of Trieste. We 

 were shown samples of refined sugar, extracted from the Sorgho, which promised 



