THE SUGAR SORGHO. 285 
afterwards, for the dying principle of the hulls has the property of 
coloring the bones of the animal, as has been proved by M. de Beau- 
regard. 
Reserving for the end what we have to say about the dye stuffs from 
the hulls of the sorgho seed, we will now pass to the consideration of 
the extraction of the sweet juice from its stalk. 
We will speak in the first place of the process of M. de Lacoste, by 
which small cultivators can make use of their canes for preparing the 
molasses necessary for household uses. The stalks being gathered, 
they are cut into small pieces, put to boil in a moderate quantity of 
water, until they arrive at the consistence of marmalade. The juice 
is extracted by pressure, then put back upon the fire, and clarified by 
milk of lime, or better, by powdered lime, using about 660 grains to 
the kilogramme of juice; then the defecation is finished by using the 
whites of eggs. This syrup, thus treated, is put for keeping in earthen 
pots, in a place which is neither moist nor warm. This easy and simple 
process is €specially valuable to small operators ; when it is proposed 
to act upon a large scale, such means are necessarily very insufficient. 
In the United States, a planter of Georgia has obtained an average 
of 407 gallons of syrup to.the acre (say 4617 litres to the hectare). 
He estimates that the price of manufacture should not exceed 10 to 15 
cents a gallon, (54 to 81 centimes, for 43 litres,) say 11f. 88c. to 17f. 
82c. the hectolitre of syrup.* 
The extraction of the sweet juice of the sorgho has for its end the 
transformation into sugar and alcohol. We will not occupy ourselves 
at this time with the detail of the method for extracting juice after it 
has been treated of in our other book, the “ Guide to the Cultivator of 
the sorgho.” At the time of writing that, however, we had not suff- 
ciently conclusive facts to base a preference for either the one or the 
other processes mentioned. Now it is quite different, and it is with a 
conscientiousness that we offer the maceration as much preferable to 
all other systems in use. We will not enter into the details of this 
operation. The limits of this little work prohibit it, and besides they 
are mentioned in numerous works upon distillation. It will suffice 
merely to present the most important points. 
* *Hunt’s Merchants’ Magazine, Nov. 1856. 
