238 SOEGHUM. 



GENERAL ANALYSES OF SOKGHUM JUICES BY VAEIOUS PERSONS. 



The following published results of analyses of sorglium juices are 

 given for purpose of confirming, so far as they go, the more extended 

 results secured at the Department of Agriculture already recorded, and 

 also as evidence that these results are not exceptional, since they 

 have been, to a great extent, reproduced in many sections of the 

 country, notably in Massachusetts, by Professor Goessmaun ; in New 

 Jersey, by Professor Cooke and Mr. Hughes; in Wisconsin, by Pro- 

 fessors Henry and Swenson ; in Illinois, by Professors Weber and 

 Scovell ; and in Indiana, by Professor Wiley ; as also in France, byM. 

 Louis Vilraorin. 



In reviewing these several reports, it will be seen that, in very many 

 instances, they are vitiated by the absence of certain data which 

 would greatly increase their scientific and practical value, and the con- 

 clusions often are hai'dly such as are justified by data so limited. For 

 example, M. Louis Vilmorin, in 1853, had secured results from sor- 

 ghum fairly comparable in the content of sugar shown to be present 

 in juice, with those more recently obtained ; but at present no one, 

 I think, will agree with him in saying that the maximum of sugar is 

 reached "when the seeds are in the milky stage," and his conclusion 

 as to the sugar being more abundant in the middle of the stalk than 

 in the lower or upper portion. 



The very close resemblance between the analyses of Prof. Henry, 

 showing the " Development" of sugar, to those obtained at the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, is marked; and, his conclusion, that "the 

 cane sugar gradually and rapidly increased, while the glucose slowly 

 decreased, from the time of flowering to the maturity of the seed," is 

 the exact result established, year after year, with every variety of sor- 

 ghum cultivated at Washington. It is, however, to be regretted, that 

 the examinations of the cane were suspended October third, as the in- 

 crease in sugar, constant up to and including that date, would doubt- 

 less have increased after, and have fully confirmed, for Wisconsin, re- 

 sults thus far secured at Washington, and shown to be true in Boston, 

 Mass., by Prof Sharjiless, in his analysis of the sorghums grown by 

 Henry B. Blackwell, in 1882, in the juice of which 18 per cent of 

 sucrose was found, equal to the best sugar-cane of Cuba. 



In view of such a result, it is hardly to be wondered at, that the leg- 

 islature of Massachusetts should have provided by law a bounty to 

 encourage the development of this new industry. 



The analyses of Professors Scovell and Weber, in the main, sustain 

 those made in Wisconsin and Washington, but appear to justify the 

 conclusion that the maximum content of sugar is at the time when 



