ALCOHOL, . 147 
So far the arrangements of West India still houses have 
proved appropriate and applicable to the distillation of 
the sorgho, but here the applicability ceases; for the 
West Indian mode of setting the wash, and the time 
allowed for fermentation there, is quite unsuited to the 
variety of the cane family we are at present considering. 
I will, therefore, now proceed to describe the process 
best suited to the new plant, so as to obtain the best 
results, taking my data from the various French reports 
which have been made on the subject. 
THE ALCOHOLIZATION OF THE SORGHO. 
In France there have been quite a number of experi- 
ments made on the conversion of the sweet juices of the 
sorgho sucré into various liquors, such as rum, brandy, 
wine, and beer. We find Vilmorin in 1854, Alphandéry 
in 1855, Bourdais, Sicard, and Madinier in 1856, and 
Detur in 1857, publishing reports on the subject, to 
which I shall refer. 
Alphandéry reports that he made very good brandy 
by concentrating the juice of the sorgho slightly (12 B.?) 
and putting it into a barrel, where it fermented a week, 
then distilling it. The eau de vie, says he, thus 
obtained, is incontestibly superior to that made from 
wine (real brandy.) Also, that if some of the juice be 
taken during fermentation, and bottled close, it makes a 
very agreeable drink. 
It is evident from the above that the circumstances 
under which M. Alphandéry fermented his juice were 
unfavorable, as the sorgho almost always, when properly 
