90 GRASSES AND^RAGE PLANTS. 



injury. I must here caution all persons who grow this cane 

 against planting it in the vicinity of broomcorn, Dourali corn, 

 or Guinea corn ; for it readily mixes with these plants, and it 

 would render the seed worthless for planting." 



As already suggested, more accurate investigations are re- 

 quired to determine the relative importance of this plant for the 

 various economical purposes alluded to. If it should be found, 

 on chemical analysis, that the large percentage of saccharine 

 matter in the plant consists of what is called glucose, a sub- 

 stance of comparatively little value, incapable of crystalliza- 

 tion to any extent, instead of a saccharine substance capable of 

 easy granulation, it would very materially affect the value of 

 the plant for the purposes of sugar making, but could hardly 

 affect its real value as a forage plant. This point will soon be 

 determined. 



If, as has been stated, it is found to be suitable for the manu- 

 facture of alcoholic liquors, it should, perhaps, be regarded by 

 the philanthropist as an important addition to our cultivated 

 crops. It is well known that enormous quantities of our best 

 grains are now withdrawn from their legitimate use as food for 

 man, for the manufacture of these articles. Many distilleries 

 use upwards of two thousand bushels of Indian corn or other 

 grains, on an average, every day, and the consumption of grain 

 for these purposes throughout the country is incredibly large. 



The Chinese sugar cane will probably be found to be an 

 exhauster of land, requiring large quantities of the phosphates 

 and silicates of the soil for the development of the hard coating 

 of its stems. It has been estimated that nine tons of it to the 

 acre would take from the soil fourteen himdred pounds of 

 mineral substances. This would seem to indicate a dry, grav- 

 elly, or a sandy soil, as best suited to supply it wants. 



Indian Grass, Wood Grass, (^sorghum nutans,^ is a grass 

 sometimes found on our dry, sterile soils, with a panicle oblong, 

 somewhat compressed, from six to ten inches long, stem from 

 three to five feet high, leaves linear, grayish, sheaths smooth, 

 spikelets light brown and glossy, drooping when mature, hairy 

 at the base, awn twisted. It flowers in August. 



Indian Millet, (^sorghum vulgare,') is a cultivated species 

 and has several well marked varieties, one of which is the Broo3I- 



