258 SOKGHUM. 



would be proportionately less, and vice versa; but it will be seen that 

 only 5 per cent of the total sugar of the beet is lost in the pulp, while 

 the amount of sugar ordinarily lost in the bagasse of sugar-cane or 

 sorghum is fully one-third of the total amount present in the canes. 



This amazing loss, a loss which aggregates at least $100,000,000 

 worth of sugar annually, is due entirely to the imperfect extraction 

 of the juice by the ordinary cane mill. 



In the main, the principle of extraction has suffered no change for 

 centuries. The most elaborate and expensive mills of the sugar plan- 

 tations of Cuba, capable of crushing hundreds of tons of cane daily^ 

 are but modifications of the primitive mills of centuries ago, when, 

 with greater labor and greater loss, a few armsful of cane was the 

 daily capacity of the rude and inexpensive mill. 



In the hope that the skill and ingenuity, which has satisfactorily 

 solved so many practical problems which have hindered the full de- 

 velopment of many new industries, may be also successfully applied 

 to this, it is well to consider briefly the nature of the problem to be 

 solved. 



This problem — the complete extraction of the sugar from the 

 plant — is by no means beyond hope of satisfactory solution. It is 

 now brought to the attention of a new class of people, proverbially 

 clever and full of invention, and fortunate in this, that, with a full 

 knowledge of its conditions, they are largely free from the prejudices 

 of long established methods, the practical knowledge of which is 

 likely to retard rather than stimulate invention. 



To such a class was the extraction of sugar from beets presented, 

 and, although a comparatively new industry, it has been from its in- 

 fancy, and to-day is exclusively, in the fostering hands of science, and, 

 as an industry, is fully abreast of the most advanced science of the 

 day. It is to this that the beet is entirely indebted for its success in 

 having become the only rival practically of the sugar-cane in the 

 production of sugar. When but a fraction of the attention which has 

 so far advanced the beet sugar industry shall have been given to sor- 

 ghum, there can be no doubt but that it will speedily become to us as a 

 people the most profitable and economical source of our sugar supply. 



Structure of the Cane. 

 The stalks of sugar-cane and of sorghum, when mature, very closely 

 resemble each other in their general character. The stalk of sorghum 

 consists of a solid stem, from f to 1^ inches in diameter, and from 6 

 to 12 feet long, according to the variety, separated into joints from 6 

 to 10 inches apart. These joints are nearer together at the butt end 



