THE SUGAR SORGHO. 273 
THE SUGAR SORGHO. 
Cuiture, Harvestine, Use of THE SEED, EXTRACTION OF THE SWEET 
Juice, DistmiaTion. By Pavunt Mapinier. Paris, 1857. 
CHAPTER. I, 
CULTURE. 
For several years past, French agriculture, stimulated on all sides 
by intelligent and industrious men, who work without relaxation for 
the improvement of the system of agriculture in our country, has been 
occupied especially with the grave question, not new, it is true, but 
which had not arrested the attention of the masses before: the natural- 
ization among us of the sugar sorgho. This is a subject of great 
interest for all, and more especially to the laboring man, with whom it 
is actually a luxury, used by him only in cases of sickness. There is 
room for astonishment at the dearness of this alimentary substance, 
since the investigations of science have found it so largely prevalent in 
the vegetable world, more especially because the prospect of abundant 
supply should apparently make a proportionally good market for it, 
by inducing greater numbers of persons in moderate circumstances to 
become purchasers, who otherwise could not. 
In fact, we may say, other things being equal, that the price of a 
product is not sc much a matter of pure conventionality, that specu- 
lation alone can materially change it. The price of an article of 
merchandise rests on its greater or less abundance, and, at the same 
time, on the amount of work needed for its production. This last con- 
dition is very important, for the more the methods of extraction and 
preparation are perfected and simplified, by so much the more does it 
become possible to furnish it at a lower price. However, when we 
find a substance very rare, which after a protracted search gives 
moderate returns, the simplification of the process of manufacture does 
not produce a very marked reduction in price, and for very obvious 
reasons. Thus, to apply this reasoning to the subject in hand, the 
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