SORGHO AND IMPHEE. yA 
three different points of consideration—the production of alcohol ; as a 
forage plant; and as a food by their seeds, which, if it is desired, can 
also be converted into alcohol in prolific seasons. But the sugar 
sorgho offers to industry a new and rich product. The coloring matter 
extracted from its seed is of a beautiful solid carmine, and the Lyonese 
manufacturers are seeking it for tinting their silks. This is a new 
source of riches for the bs Syngas if he knows how to make use of 
them. 
We cannot accept as serious the calculation of M. Hardy, which 
shows, as one of the profitable products of the North China sorgho, the 
cerosie, or vegetable wax, which develops itself upon the surface of the 
stalk. Thesame waxy substance is found upon all the sorghos, upon 
the sugar cane. However, it has never been sought, to make use of it, 
except in the laboratory, and for the gratification of chemical analysis ; 
for, supposing that the costs of extraction were sufficiently covered by 
the product, the scarcity of labor, which is especially felt in the farm- 
ing districts, would form an invincible obstacle to its being undertaken, 
especially in Algeria. 
One of our honorable correspondents of Turin, M. le Count Moign- 
erie, has made vinegar by watering the bagasse, already crushed, with 
the juice of the sorgho. He has obtained the acetous fermentation, 
and, according to his own testimony, a very perfect vinegar. 
_ Count de Beauregard has gathered about 135,000 pounds of stalks 
to the hectare (25 acres). He has extracted from it about 7,600 gal- 
lons of saccharine juice. 
M. Raoul has obtained about 100, 000 to 112,000 pounds of stalks, 
and has obtained from them from 50 to 55 per cent. of juice. 
From the preceding observations, it follows that it is especially de- 
sirable for our agriculture to accomplish the distillation in the shortest 
possible time comprised between the last days of September and the 
first of November ; for frosts, by congealing the juices in the stalk, 
alter and destroy the greater part of the saccharine matter, which 
ferments without giving profit, when the stalks, cut at maturity, re- 
main crowded together under sheds. It is always more profitable to 
treat them at the moment when they are cut. In this point of view 
Algeria offers an immense advantage to its agriculturists, since the 
