320 APPENDIX. 
Sugar, calculated at 8 per cent. of sap, = 2°169k. 
Absolute alcohol, calculated at 6°3 per 
cent.ofthesap, - - - 1-708 lit. 
The best will give, in proportion with these figures : 
Roots, in weight per hectare,- -~— - - - 46-000 
Sap, at 80 per cent. of weight of roots, - - - 36-000 
Sugar, at 6 per cent. of sap, - Aah a . + 27160 
Pure alcohol, at 3 per cent. of the beet, - - - 1:350lit 
The calculation of eight per cent., on which I base the relative pro- 
portion of sugar in the sorgho, may be thought too moderate; but it 
here refers simply to the extractable and crystallizable sugar, and I do 
not think I have valued it at too low a figure. If it were proposed to 
establish a comparison between the sorgho, and the sugar cane of more 
southern countries, I am convinced that the sum of products in sorgho 
should be much raised; but the conditions necessary for such com- 
parison are not in my possession, nor for those which might be made 
between the same plant and the grape vine, topinambour, the grains, 
and even the asphodel, in respect to the production of alcohol. 
After having examined the advantage that the general cultivation 
of the sorgho presents, and the considerations which favor the adoption 
of this plant, it remains to me to cite some of the results yielded by 
our first experiments, and which may be suggestive for further studies, 
or as an index for the first attempts in manufacture. 
One of the first points that I have sought to determine, without 
being able to do so in an entirely satisfactory manner, was to know at 
what epoch in the growth the stalks commenced secreting sugar, and, 
as a consequence, at what moment to commence to manufacture. It 
seemed to me that this period coincided with the development of the 
head; but the proportion of sugar in the stalk continues on the in- 
crease until the grain is in the milk. In a plant in flower, I have re- 
murked, that the richness in sugar diminished between the joints in 
proportion as we go higher up the stalk, and that, in like manner, the 
lower portion of each joint was younger and less sugary than the upper 
part. In this condition, because of the small dimensions and hardness 
of the smaller joints, it is the central portion of the stalk which is 
found to be the most rich. I suppose—without having been able to 
