BAGASSE AS FOOD. 395 



ervation and use of the manure of the farm, no loss to the fertility of 

 the soil could result from this source. 



In regard to the seed, it is most likely that it will be largely consumed 

 upon the farm, especially since its value for feeding stock has been ex- 

 perimentally proved by Professor Cook, of the New Jersey Experimental 

 Station, to be practically the equivalent of maize. Until, therefore, the 

 seed of sorghum shall reach a wholesale price in the market approxi. 

 mately equal to maize, it is more than likely that the farmer will use 

 his sorghum seed as food for his farm animals, and thus secure its con- 

 sumption upon the farm, returning to his fields most of the mineral 

 matter which the seed has removed in its growth. 



There remains only the bagasse and the sediments and scums of the 

 sugar house which could prove any source of exhaustion to the 

 soil. The importance of adding the sediment and scum obtained in 

 defecation to the land directly, or to the manure or compost heap, 

 has already been alluded to. Such disposition of these unsightly pro- 

 ducts is easy, and would naturally suggest itself to the ordinary farmer. 



An experiment made at the Department showed that piling up the 

 bagasse, with the addition of quickliuie or solution of potash, caused it 

 during the winter to become thoroughly disintegrated, so that it could 

 easily be added to the land as manure, and by the plow and harrow 

 readily incorporated with the soil. 



In those sections where scarcity of fuel exists, the utilization of the 

 bagasse for such purpose is likely to increase, but it is of great impor- 

 tance that the ashes should be carefully saved and applied to the soil, 

 since it is only those constituents of the bagasse, derived from the at- 

 mosphere, which would burn or could serve the purpose of fuel. 



The minei'al matter necessary to the production of a crop of sorghum 

 equal to 11 t(ms of stripped stalks to the acre would be as follows : 11 

 tons of stripped cane would give, at 42.39 per cent bagasse, 4.66 tons 

 of bagasse and 6.34 tons of juice. The relative proportion of leaves to 

 stripped cane is about 1 to 5.5, and we should have 2 tons of leaves. A 

 crop of 25 bushels of seed would not be disproportionate to such a yield 

 of cane, which, at 56 pounds to the bushel, would be 1 ,440 pounds. The 

 average per cent of ash in sorghum juices is about 1.0 per cent (Ag- 

 ricultural Report, 1880, p. 125). We should have, therefore, as the 

 total mineral matter taken from the soil by a crop of 11 tons of 

 stripped cane, the following : 



ASH IN A CROP OF 11 TONS OF STRIPPED CAXE. 



Pounds. 



4.66 tons bagasse, at 127 per cent 93 2 



6.34 tons juice, at 1 00 per cent. 126 8 



2.00 tons leaves, at 2 S4 per cent ., 113 6 



1,400 pounds seed, at 1.68 per cent 23 5 



Total • 357.1 



