450 SORGHUM. 



seed equals in quantity the yield of corn upon the same ground, and 

 chemical analysis shows, it to be practically identical in composition 

 with corn. If swine may be fattened without loss upon corn, as is the 

 case, there appears no reason to doubt but that this method of using 

 the seed at Rio Grande may enable them to pay all expenses for their 

 crop of cane. Mr. Joseph Sullivant, of Duncan's Falls, Ohio, made 

 a thorough examination of all available statistics concerning the fat- 

 tening of swine upon corn, and sums up the evidence as follows : 



I conclude that nine pounds of pork from a bushel of corn, fed in the ear, 

 twelve pour.ds from raw meal, thirteen and a half pounds fiom boiled coin, six- 

 teen and a half poui ds from cooked meal, is no more than a moderate average, 

 which the feeder ma\ expect to realize fiom a bushel of corn, under ordinary 

 circumstances of weather, with dr}-, warm, and clean feeding pens. 



The two most important considerations, then, in connection with this 

 new industry, viz., the economical production of sugar and syru^^, and 

 the maintenance of the fertility of the land, urge that this practice, 

 followed at Rio Grande, N. J., be imitated, so far as may be, by all 

 entering upon the cultivation and manufacture of sorghum. 



The corn crop of 1881 occupied 37 per cent of all the cultivated 

 land in the United States, even including the grass lands, viz., G4,- 

 262,<'25 acres out of a total ot 173,075,409 acres. 



During the years 1871 to 1881 inclusive, the t(it;il crop of corn pro- 

 duced in the United States was equal to 13,662,965,083 bushels, 

 which at 56 pounds to the bushel is equal to 382,563,022 tons. 



The average of 28 analyses of maize gives 1.63 per cent of ash, and 

 of this ash 46.53 per cent is phosphoric acid, and 32.56 per cent is 

 potash. 



So that there was removed from the land in the corn crop of those 

 eleven years 6,235,777 tons of mineral matter, of which 2,901,507 

 tons were phosphoric acid, and 2,030,369 tons were potash. At 12 

 and 7 cents per pouud, the prices respectively in the so-called com- 

 mercial fertilizers, the value of these two compone'Sts of the ash of 

 the corn crop for those 11 years was $696,361,680 for the phosphoric 

 acid, and $284,251,660 for the potash, or a total for the two of $980,- 

 613,340. 



Now, the total value of the corn crop for those 11 years was $5,- 

 883, '68,121, so that the phosphoric acid and potash in this crop were 

 worth at those prices which are paid for those materials 16f percent 

 of the total value of the crop. For those same years the average 

 number of bushels per acre of corn was 26, and the average value of 

 the crop per acre was $11.20. 



It is hardly probable that, at the present, corn is grown at a profit 



