PRODUCTION OF SORGHUM 397 



Biese impurities are not removed they impart to the sirup an undesirable taste. As 

 ordinarily manufactured, therefore, sorghum sirup is not as highly prized as maple 

 or cane sirup, although good sirup can be made from sorghum by properly clarify- 

 ing the juice. The process of manufacture is extremely simple or complex, depend- 

 ing upon the amount to be handled and the extent of the clarification. As rapidly 

 as the canes are cut, which is when the seeds are in the dough stage, the heads and 

 leaves are removed and the canes crushed between rollers to extract the juice. In 

 the more simple processes the clarification is accomplished by skimming and 

 decanting the liquid after allowing the sediment to settle. 



These processes are assisted by neutralizing the natural acids present with lime. 

 by boiling to coagulate organic substances, and by adding clay to weigh down t'ao 

 suspended materials. After clarification the liquid is condensed imtil it weighs 

 about eleven and one-half pounds per gallon. On account of the rather large 

 proportion of uncr>'stallizable sugar, there is comparatively little danger of granu- 

 lation with sorghum sirup or " molasses." With a properly adjusted mill, the cane 

 will yield sixty per cent of its weight of juice and peld as a maximum about 

 twenty gallons of sirup per ton of clean cane. 



563. Sorghum Crop of the World. — The seed of sorghum, 



under the name of millet or durra, enters into the dietar}' of 

 a large proportion of the people of Africa and the drier and 

 warmer portions of Asia. There are no statistics concerning its 

 production. While it is not so palatable, it is not improbable 

 that it is quite as important as is rice. The use of sorghum 

 for sugar has been largely confined to America. It is some- 

 what but not extensively raised in Europe for fodder. Broom 

 corn is raised both in Italy and France as well as in the United 

 States. 



564. Sorghum Crop of the United States. — Something less 

 than 200,000 acres of sorghum seed were reported by the census 

 of 1900 under the name of Kafir corn, almost all of which was 

 raised in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and California. Much larger 

 quantities, however, are raised for forage. The production of 

 sorghum for forage is not listed separate from maize by the 

 census, but of three millions so listed, more than half is grown 

 in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, and one-third by Kansas, where 

 both the sweet and nonsaccharine varieties are known to be 

 extensively raised. In 1899 sweet sorghum was raised for sirup 

 ujJon 447,000 fanns, each farm raising on an average less than 



