296 APPENDIX. 
a forage, but as a sugar plant it will only be very lucrative at the 
south. This has been well understood by the seedsmen of Paris, who 
have sowed in Provence their stocks of seed for sale. This plant is 
very prolific in seed. It is probable that in a very little time it will 
be sold at as low a price as that of the common sorghos. Of an 
easy culture and extraordinary hardiness ; considerable yield in three 
different respects, seed, forage, and sugar ; these are the advantages 
presented by this plant. 
“Tts syrup is without any unpleasant taste ; its alcohol very pure, 
and without a trace of empyreumatic oils, so abundant in the alcohol 
of the beet. The fermented juice makes a very agreeable drink. M. 
Vilmorin has made of it a cider quite analogous to the cider from 
apples. He has mixed with it, in variable quantities, various other 
ciders and drinks made from fruits, and always with a decided advan- 
tage. 
« From the necessity of not covering the seed of this plant too deep, 
in order to facilitate the germination, the sowings should be made on a 
hot-bed, to preserve them from the birds, and other thieving animals.”’* 
M. Ponsard adds: “It is to be hoped, and I am shortly expecting 
this result to happen, that the cultivation in the climate of Paris will 
render this plant more precocious, and that some varie*ies will be dis- 
covered which will perfectly ripen their seed in this latitude. Under 
these conditions, the holcus sacciharatus will take its appropriate and 
important position. From the cultivation of a small plot of this seed, 
a person could have seeds for his poultry, forage for his cow, and an 
agreeable and abundant drink for himself.” 
We will mention, in concluding our remarks concerning the trials of 
the cultivation of the sorgho, which have been made at Hyéres by M. 
Rautonnet : “The plant, in ordinary conditions, has furnished 30,000 
kilogrammes of juice to the hectare—a yield which exceeds that of the 
beet. One stalk, of 450 grammes, gives 150 grammes of juice, con- 
taining 10 to 15 per cent. of sugar.” 
* We do not agree with M. Bensart, that the culture of the sorgho, which is entirely 
like that of broom corn, should be protected in the same manner. The transplanting 
of it will injure its ulterior development. To preserve the seed against birds, it is 
much better to watch the crops, as is the custom with other seeds, until the plant 
comes out of the ground and has acquired sufficient strength to defend itself against 
their voracity. To expedite this matter, the seed may be steeped before sowing. 
