COMPAFwAXn'E VALUE OF SORGHf^M AND OTHER CROPS. 410 



empire iu 1878 was 64,297,580 pounds. Importation in 1878 was 67,434,805 

 pounds. For three or (our hundred years, the processes of fcranulatinji and re- 

 fining sugars have been known and practiced. Sorghum is not grown, as with 

 us, from the seed, but from cuttings. In September, selected stalks are cut and 

 buried in trenches a foot deep. Through the winter, from each joint of the 

 stalks, spronts grow. In the spring, these joints are cut oflFand set out in rows 15 to 

 18 inches apart, and about the same distance from each other in the rows. The 

 ground hns previously been thoroughly dug up and pulverized by a long-bladed 

 mattock. The fertilizers used are ashes, fish, decomposed ha?, straw and sea-weed, 

 or ni^ht-soil. The plants are thoroughly hoed, hilled, and irrigated. In October 

 and November, the leaves are stripped off, and the stalks are then cut and the 

 hard outfr covering is removed, and ih<^ remaining portion is then ground be- 

 tween rollers of s'one or hard wood. Th? cane juice is then boiled in iron ket- 

 tles until the granulation takes place, when it placed in bags and pressed dry. 

 The expressed syrup is used as molasses. Dry upland soils are required for 

 the successful growth of the cane, and the expenditure of labor and fertilizers 

 is as great, if not greater, as for any other crop. Great exertions are being 

 made to promote the increased production of sugar, which will probably be, in 

 some decree, successful. In fact, I am informed that large orders for the ap- 

 paratus for sugar making have been received from districts which have hereto- 

 fore not grown sugar-cane. 



Sugar Product per Acre. 



Xelson !Maltby, Geneva, Ohio, reports that E. Wincliester, of that 

 place, obtained, from one-third of an acre of sorghum, 336 pounds of 

 sugar and 47 gallons of molasses ; that M. D. Cole, from one-half an 

 acre, obtained 330 pounds of sugar and 50 gallons of molasses ; also, 

 that, from 700 gallons of syrup, Mr. Maltby obtained 4,230 pounds 

 of sugar from the first crystallization. 



Professors Henry and Swenson, of Madison, Wisconsin, report, as 

 the result from two experimental plats, 923 and 998 pounds of sugar 

 per acre, and, iu addition, 1,235 and 1,042 pounds of molasses, besides 

 27^ and 32 bushels of seed from the respective plats. 



COMPARATR'E VALUE OF THE SORGHUM A3'D OTHER PFJNCIPAL 



CROPS. 



In the Iowa Agricultural Report for 1872, page 268, the following 

 average acreage values of the leading crops grown in Iowa during 

 the years 1862-71, inclusive, is given as the report of a committee 

 appointed for the purpose of investigating the sorghum industry 

 in Iowa : 



