276 APPENDIX. 
produced gratis, while the transformation of the forage which this 
quantity gives, results in a still further profit in the nourishment for 
cattle. It is, then, 56,000 lbs. of manure that we really pay to obtain 
the seed and the saccharine juice of the sorgho. 
M. De Gasparin estimates that two thousand seven hundred and 
seventy pounds of manure are necessary to produce 2°84 bushels of 
Indian corn (seeds and stalks.) Supposing that the sorgho is more 
exacting, and needs two thousand nine hundred and thirty-five pounds 
Troy for 2°84 bushels, that would make for a yield of nine thousand 
six hundred pounds of seed to 23 acres, 160,000 pounds of manure 
necessary. 
Let us consider finally the testimony of a person who is certainly 
the most competent upon this matter, M. Beauregard, who for the 
past three years cultivated the sorgho upon the same land, without 
having experienced any diminution in its yield. We will now consider 
the choice of the soil which is most suitable to the sorgho, and also 
pass in detail the methods of cultivation most appropriate. This plant 
flourishes in light soils, sandy and calcareous, and particularly in allu- 
vial formations. It needs a certain moisture, but is averse to it in the 
extreme. Almost always, both in Algeria and the Mediterranean dis- 
trict of France, excellent results will be obtained from the employment 
of irrigation, both during the early and more advanced stages of the 
growth of this plant ; but as it approaches the ripening of the seed, it 
is not so profitable to employ irrigation, and is even detrimental, by 
hindering the elaboration of the saccharine principles, and causing the 
canes to be watery. Mr. Hardy, the illustrious Director of the Gov- 
ernment Nursery at Algiers, tells us that the sorgho delights in soils 
containing carbonate of lime, and he advises frequent liming of those 
which need it. This recommendation is explained by the astonishing 
success of the sorgho upon the chalky soils of Champagne, where they 
have obtained but very slight crops. If the use of lime seems benefi- 
cial, it is not the same as regards the employment of salts, of which we 
know the depressing influence upon the sugar cane and the beet. As 
a fertilizer, the excrement of horned cattle is very excellent. Manur- 
ing with green crops cannot be too much recommended in this cultiva- 
tion. They increase the fertility of the soil, render more assimilable 
