166 GRASSES OP IOWA. 



Sorghum cane has been used for many years for the manu- 

 facture of a kind of syrup known in commerce as "sorghum 

 molasses." It is made by exp essing the juice from the 

 trimmed stalks by m°ans of a mill or roller pressure, straining 

 and clarifying, sometimes by the addition of a small quantity 

 of freshly slacked quicklime, and heating to boiling, skimming 

 and settling, but usually without the addition of lime, although 

 in this way ii produces an inferior product. 



It would seem that the process of manufacture must be at 

 fault at some point and that point is in the clarification of the 

 juice. The gums or "solids not sugar," impurities of the juice 

 are of such a character that they cannot be removed by any 

 known process of clarification without sulficient facility and 

 economy to enable the sucrose content to be easily crystallized; 

 therefore the financial failure of the industry when put upon 

 its own feet and unassisted by government bounties. 



Sugar cane. — Commercial sugar was obtained only from 

 sugar cane until the early part of the present century, when 

 sugar beets were discovered to be an available source. The 

 Chinese* claim to have manufactured sugar from cane for over 

 3,000 years. Tiiey most probably obtained it either in Cochin- 

 China or Bengal, where all evidence points to the plant having 

 been native. Many Greek and Roman writers speak of either 

 sugar or cane, or both. 



The best of the more recent accounts on the production of 

 sugar may be obtained from Stubbsf . SimmondsJ in his work 

 on Tropical Agriculture treats the subject very fully. 



Other Uses of Grasses. 



Grasses are widely used for other purposes. It is impossible 

 for us in this connection to give all the different uses to which 

 grasses are put. The Fanicum junoeuin is used in Argentine 

 Republic as a substitute for soap. Straw paper is made out of 

 straw of several cereals. A great deal of other straw is also 

 manufactured into paper of various kinds, and this is a subject 

 of considerable commercial importance. Paper is made not 

 only from rye and wheat but also from maize, and the time will 

 come when the manufacture of paper from maize will assume 

 much greater importance than it does at present. Dr. Harsh- 

 berger says of the maize: "Maize seems to be the best adapted 



*Wray. The practical sugar plants. 1848. Stubbs Sugar cane. 1. 

 fStubbs Sugar cane. 1. 

 iTroplcal Agriculture. 128. 



