SYRUP. 133 
hard, both because of being so very full of sap, and from 
the large quantity of silex in their outer coating; and a 
wooden roller mill could scarcely be depended upon to 
last through a season without breaking, or, if it should, 
the rollers would most probably be crushed and badly 
indented by the hard canes. Another argument in favor 
of iron rollers is, that the saccharine juice of the sorgho, 
when taken up by the pores of wood, is exceedingly 
likely to become sour, and thus injures the portions of 
juice successively passing through the mill. 
M. D’IVERNOIS’ SYRUP, 
It is possible to make syrup from the sorgho without 
the use of any mill or crushing apparatus whatever. 
Thus, according to an article by M. d’Ivernois, trans- 
lated from the Bulletin of the Imperial (French) Accli- 
mation Society, by Hon. H. Meigs, Secretary of the 
American Institute, all that is necessary is to select the 
butts of mature stalks, cut them into pieces of about an 
inch in length, and boil them in pure water in an iron 
pot. When the water has become charged with the 
sweet juices of the cane clippings, it should be strained off 
and clarified in the usual way, with a little cream of lime, 
whites of eggs, bullock’s blood, or skimmed milk. After 
another boiling, to reduce it to proper consistency, it may 
be put into stone jars or pots and tightly covered, like 
ordinary preserves. This practice is at best an imperfect 
one; for, not only is the saccharine matter in the stalks 
boiled out, but, at the same time, all the other soluble, 
G* 
