no 



REPORT OF THE COMMT?!SIONER 01^ AOlilOnLTrTM!. 



doubt but that upon good laud the estimated yield to the acre could be 

 oblaiucd: 



The first and second colniiiu.^-' liive the results aotually secured, but 

 the several juices were not in their. best condition as compared with 

 the results given in tlie first table. The third column is the amount of 

 sirup the same weight of stalks would have yielded had they been cut 

 at the proper time. The juice obtained from the stalks ])y the imper- 

 fect means at command of the department was little more than half the 

 amount present in the stalks. 



The fourth column represents the results attainable by the use of a 

 mill that would give 70 per cent, of juice from the stalks ; a result 

 which is ])ossible, and which is claimed by manufacturi^TS of mills. 



There is no doubt but that, when the present industry shall have se- 

 cured the employment of the capital and scientific ability which has 

 developed the beet-sugar industry, even these results, which may appear 

 extravagant to many, will be assured. 



Although, as has been stated, these sirups were obtained from stalks 

 in which the maximum content of sugar liad not yet been developed, 

 they did, however, all crystallize well, and all yielded excellent sugar. 



At the present tlie sugar hasbeen se]iarated from the Chinese sorghum 

 sirup only, which yielded in the first croji of crystals 54.7 per cent, 

 of its weight in sugar ; the Early Amber sirup, which yielded 47.5 ])er 

 cent, of sugar; and from the field-corn sirup, which yielded 39.3 per 

 cent, of sugar. This latter experiment is worthy of especial mention, 

 since the result secured is not only most surprising, but contrary to an 

 almost universal belief. The corn-stalks used were of three varieties: 

 Lindsay's Horse Tooth, Imjiroved Prolific, and White Dent — three 

 coarse-growing white fi^ld corns. The stalks grew in drills 3 feet apsirt, 

 and about 9 or 10 inches apart in the drill. The ears were plucked after 

 they had thoroughly ripened, and the husks Avere dead and dry. The 

 corii was plump and sound, and yielded at the rate of 69.1 bushels of 

 shelled corn (o«5 ])ounds to the bushel) to the acre. The stalks were 

 then topped, stripped, and crushed, and the juice proved to be the best 

 juice yet obtained from corn-stalks, at any period of growth or of any 

 variety. 



Below are given the results of the examination of the stalks of Egyp- 

 tian sugar-corn, Honduras aud Early Amber sorghums, and the leaves 

 from the same. This examination was made for the purpose of deter- 

 mining the loss of sugar in the method employed in its extraction, also 

 to determine the relative nutritive value of the leaves and stalks, 

 pressed and un])ressed. The stalks selected were split lengthwise, so ' 

 that a fair average might be taken, and one half was dried thoroughly 

 without ])ressing, and the other half was passed through the mill, and the 

 bagasse, or pressetl stalks, carefully saved aud dried. 



