282 APPENDIX. 
because it will suit exactly by its composition for the nourishment of 
milk cows, for which it will undoubtedly replace the beet. It will 
compose the food for the females of the races of our working cattle, 
which are very poor milkers, almost incapable of nourishing their calves, 
and for which it is necessary to furnish, during the time of suckling, the 
kind of fodder adapted to the secretion of milk. 
The seed, of an elongated spheroidal form, is enveloped in its firmly 
adhering valves, which are impregnated with a very intense coloring 
matter, found even in the interior portion of the seed. It contains 
from ten to twelve per cent. of nitrogenized matter, and about sixty- 
six per cent. of starch; a composition which, upon the consideration 
of the amount of nitrogen, reminds one of Indian corn. The yield of 
seed is large, but not exactly established at the present time; but we 
know enough of it to be assured that it could not be inferior to that 
of the millets, and of the common kinds of Sorgho, such as broom corn. 
We may then calculate upon eighty five to one hundred and forty bushels 
(probably, per hectare, two and a half acres,) in ordinary circumstances, 
but with good cultivation we may obtain very much more. However, 
it is necessary to make, in this respect, an important distinction in the 
yield of the seeds of the sorgho. According to the observations of: 
science and practice, the saccharine plants are excellently well grown 
in the soils composed of vegetable detritus, or humus, not too rich in 
mineral salts; plants bearing seeds for food, do not require lands too 
much charged with humus, but they allow of the presence of a notable 
quantity of mineral salts. Those of the first sort can receive, without 
great inconvenience, excessive manuring, provided that they contain 
but little of animal and mineral matters. The second, on the other 
hand, profit entirely from the presence of these substances, but they do 
not require strong manures. The excessive use of these latter, com- 
monly results in producing a great excess of straw. From these con- 
siderations, it is evident that the sorgho, cultivated especially for its 
saccharine principles, will produce seed in quantity very different, ac- 
cording as it is cultivated in a soil favoring more or less this crop; 
and everything goes to prove that a culture perfect for the elaboration 
of the saccharine principles of the vegetable would be singularly in- 
S-! 
jurious for the formation of seed. It is thus that we explain the very 
