8 REPORT OF THE COMIVIISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



been made (if we except that of Mr. F. L. Stewart, who was found anion^ 

 the mountains of Pennsylvania at work for some years in this direction 

 under discouragiiij;- circiimstaucea). having' in view the determination of 

 the commercial value of these and oilier jilauts, until this task was assigned 

 to the Chemical Division of this depnri ment in 1S78. In a letter from Abi- 

 gail Adams to her husband, Jolui Adams, September 24, 1777, she says: 

 An instance may be seen in tlie progress which is made in grinding cornstalks and 

 boiling the liquor into molar-scs. Scarcely a town or ])iirish within forty miles of r.s 

 but what has several mills at work ; and had the experiment been made a month sooner, 

 many thousand barrels would have been made. No less than 80 have been made in 

 the small town of Manchester. It answers very well to distill, and may be boiled doAvn 

 to sugar. There are two mills fitting up in this parish. They have three rollers — one 

 ■with cogs and two smooth. The stalks are stripped of the leaves and tops, so that it 

 is no robbery npon the cattle, and the juice ground out. 'Tis said four barrels of juice 

 will make one of molasses, but in this people differ widely. They have a method of 

 refining it so that it looks as well as the best imported molasses. 



The following is an extract from the work of David Lee Childs on tho 

 culture of the beet and manufacture of beet-sugar : 



Other plants usually grown in our soil are capable of fiumishing sugar, and some of 

 tliem may be found worth cultivating for that and accessory products. 



We have tried Indian-corn stalks and the pumpkin, and have obtained from them 

 good sugar and molasses. 



Perhaps these crops may alternate advantageously with the beet. If the manu- 

 facture of sugar from the stalks of Indian corn can be reconciled, as we believe it may, 

 with the maturity or near maturity of the ears, this source of saccharine may sui^er- 

 sede the beet-root. The seeds of the pumpkin yield a fine sweet oil, but wo have no 

 means of judging what quantity of this product can be obtained from a given extent 

 of land. If it should turn out satisfactorily in this respect, the pumpkin may odo day 

 overshadow the sugar-cane. 



Here was the opportunity and it was at that time the duty of the govern- 

 ment to assume the risk of failure and the expense and care of such scien- 

 tific analyses and experimental trial as would have exhausted all resources 

 before giving up even the hope of securing success in the profitable pro- 

 duction of sugar, and thus retaining at home the millions of money that 

 have since gone out to sustain and enrich other nations. The work that 

 should have been done then has been undertaken now, with such imper- 

 fect means as were furnished; and notwithstanding the ridicule of the 

 thoughtless, and the fears of hopeful friends, it has been steadily pushed 

 forward to a satisfactory conclusion. 



Many persons are preparing to imitate the example of F. A. Weidnor 

 & Co., of Chicago, and erect mills the coming season with vacuum pans, 

 and centrifugal driers in which the work will be done by steam and of 

 capacity sufficient to make a ton of sugar each day of twentyrfour hours' 

 work. Mills of this capacity will ha needed in every county where 

 sorghum is grown, and will not only bo employed in the harvest season 

 in milling the stalks of sorghum and corn direct from the field, but will 

 also after liarvest and during the winter take the product of the small 

 open-pan mills (sirups weighing 8 to 12 pounds) and rework that in the 

 vacuum pan and centrifugal, making sugar and sirup for the market. 



