ALCOHOLIZATION. 295 
and also of distillation. The different experiments made in Le Var 
have given very important practical results, proving that the vesou or 
juice obtained from the sorgho is endowed with an alcoholic richness 
much superior to that of all other substitutes for the vine. 
«The sugar beet contains 8 to 10 per cent. of saccharine matter. 
The sorgho, as has been proved by the experiments at Verrieéres, by 
M. Vilmorin, have given 16 to 20 per cent., from which can be 
obtained 8 to 10 litres of pure alcohol, appropriate for all industrial 
and domestic use ; and as this precious cereal, an excellent nourishment 
for the stock, which eat it greedily, developes itself with extreme 
rapidity, the same where irrigation is rare and difficult, it will be 
readily understood that this is destined to play an important part in 
our cultivations, and especially in those of Algeria. M. Turrel, the 
author of the report, says that in accepting for France the yield 
obtained at Verriéres by M. Vilmorin, with the sorgho cultivated on 
his estate, we would have the following result. The sorgho furnishes 
at a minimum of 50 per cent. weight of its stalks in sweet juice. As 
a minimum yield, calculated according to the result at Verriéres, would 
be about 30,000 kilogrammes to the hectare. From it could be 
extracted at least 21 hectolitres of alcohol of a value of 3,780 francs, 
which would give to the hectare a yield that no other agricultural 
product can hope to equal. Let us add, that the yield in Provence 
and in Algeria would be probably more considerable than that 
obtained at Verriéres. M. Vilmorin notices a remarkable superiority 
of the sorgho: the purity of its juice is such that brandies of the 
first quality coming from it are sufficiently pure to be directly put into 
manufacture. M. De Beauregard, in a recent report to the Assembly 
of Toulon, has shown that having distilled the juice of the sorgho 
fermented by the assistance of the grape stems, or of the bagasse of the 
cane itself, he has obtained an alcohol of excellent flavor, which has 
been sold in the Marseilles market at the ordinary price of other 
alcohols (200 francs the hectolitre of 316). Several cultivators, of 
Haute Marne are also undertaking the extensive culture of the sorgho. 
One of them, M. Ponsard, has made for three years experiments upon 
this plant. ‘ From it,’ says he, ‘I have arrived at the conviction that 
the holecus saccharatus cannot ia the climate of Paris be cultivated 
on a large scale for manufacture. It will have an enormous yield as 
