REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 7 



looked for from the cultivatiou of tropical cane. Then again the plant 

 itself belonged to a tropical country, and refused to ripen its seed in 

 Louisiana, never even maturing the whole extent of stalk gTOwn. 



AU these considerations combined to make a discouraging outlook for 

 the home production of sugar from tropical cane within a period of time 

 which would afford any relief to the then depressed condition of our 

 industries. 



It was with much gratification, therefore, that I first saw a specimen 

 of weU granulated sugar made from sorghum, and exhibited at the Min- 

 nesota State Fair. 



After a thorough examination of the attempts to produce sugar from 

 sorghum in this country, and also after a chemical examination in the labo- 

 ratory of the juice of this particular plant, it became apparent that this 

 was a probable source of the immediate production of this much-desired 

 article. 



The first stalks of sorghum ever grown in this country, so far as I am 

 informed, were planted by the Curator of the Botanical Gardens. This 

 seed was obtained from Paris, as was also the seed which the Agricul- 

 tural Department first distributed in the year 1856. 



A more effective distribution, however, was made by the enterprising 

 editor and proprietor of the American Agriculturist, Mr. Orange Judd, 

 who sent out 25,000 packages of seed to the subscribers of his paper. 

 In 1857 Mr. Leonard Wray came from England and brought with him 

 sixteen varieties of African imphee or sorghum, which were planted in 

 South Carolina and Georgia. Sorghum was thus introduced and was 

 largely grown in almost every State in the Union. During the war of 

 the rebellion it was particularly valuable to the people of the Southern 

 States, and was the only adequate means of obtaining their " sweeten- 

 ing." Isolated attempts were made in Ohio and elsewhere to granulate 

 the juice of the varieties then in cultivation, but without such success 

 or profit as would warrant a continuation of the efforts. In no instance 

 did the result seem to be satisfactory, and the raising of sorghum was 

 nearly abandoned in Ohio, and in other States was only cultivated for 

 the sirup. When the discovery was made that the juice of the " Early 

 Amber" cane seemed to be more pure than of others, and would, with 

 careful attention, deposit a large amount of its sucrose in granular form, 

 the department determined to make so far as i)ossible a thorough examin- 

 ation of the different varieties of sorghum and test their relative merits 

 and value as sugar-producing plants. This inquiry has been patiently 

 and carefully followed from the season of 1877 to 1879, and the results 

 have been eminently satisfactory, as mil appear in remarks upon the 

 work of the Chemical Division. It is sufficient to say in this place that 

 the value of the work done during the past year by this division can 

 not be overestimated. 



Mention had been made, and it had been recorded and mostly forgotten, 

 that sugar was obtainable from corn, pumpkias, melons, and other vege- 

 tables, but no thorough, careful, persistent experiment seems ever to have 



