702 



SORGHUM. 



and, at least for higher latitudes, a sunny ex- 

 posure. As the plants send their roots to great 

 depth, but in their early growth are for some 

 time small and scarcely distinguishable from 

 the summer grass, it is desirable both to plough 

 deeply and cultivate thoroughly the freer the 

 soil of weeds, the better. The seed is planted 

 in hills or drilled in rows (as a protection 

 against winds, better perhaps running east and 

 west), from three and a half to five feet apart ; 

 and quite commonly too thickly at first, to be 

 afterward thinned to suit the soil and season. 

 Ordinarily it should be covered to but from one 

 half to one inch in depth ; but seed sprouted by 

 soaking (about two days for imphee, and six for 

 sorgho), as is done to test its vitality and to 

 hasten growth, should be covered deep enough 

 to prevent the drying and perishing of the 

 shoot. The plants, until about thre'e feet high, 

 require much the same cultivation as maize ; but 

 late cultivation retards maturity late plough 

 ing especially so, by disturbing the roots 

 Transplanting is successfully performed, a bet- 

 ter growth being thus commonly secured. It is 

 a general practice to remove " tillers," as de- 

 tracting from the growth of the original plant, 

 and liable to impart to the juice an excess of 

 acid, and to the syrup a " grassy " flavor. 



Mr. Clough states that, with most of the va- 

 rieties, the saccharine matter begins to be found 

 in the juice just before the seed-heads appear, 

 and increases in richness, at least in the lower 

 part of the stalk, until the heads are fully 

 formed, the sugar meantime being mainly ab- 

 sorbed from above the upper joint ; that after 

 the seed is filled out and the cane matured, the 

 sugar gradually disappears from the stem, being, 

 if not destroyed in consequence of frost, ap- 

 parently in part returned to the root ; and that 

 the period at which the saccharine matter is 

 most fully developed, and that, therefore, most 

 appropriate for harvesting the cane, is when the 

 seed at the middle of the panicle is just begin- 

 ning to harden, or to pass from the milky state. 

 The crop should, if practicable, stand until the 

 plants have in the main reached this stage. 

 The sugar, however, appears to culminate in 

 the juice at an earlier period of growth, in the 

 higher latitudes; so that here the cane bears 

 cutting while much less mature than it does 

 farther south. 



Although a frost which merely kills the 

 foliage does not of itself injure the juice of the 

 cane, yet, as arresting the maturity of the 

 plants, it indicates the desirableness of at once 

 cutting the crop. When, however, the tem- 

 perature falls for a time 1 or 2 below the 

 freezing point, the juices of the stem are con- 

 gealed and the cells ruptured : even this change 

 does not destroy or modify the sugar ; but upon 

 suosequent exposure to a higher temperature, 

 say of 50 or upwards, fermentation sets in, the 

 sugar being rapidly converted to glucose, then 

 to ^alcohol, and finally to acid. When an in- 

 jurious frost has occurred, the crop should be 

 forthwith cut, the leaves being then commonly 



allowed to remain ; but frozen canes at once 

 suffer, and most of all, if left exposed after cut- 

 ting to a warm sun or to rain. The stalks, 

 first dry if practicable, should be stacked in 

 small stacks and covered, or better housed, 

 and then ground as rapidly as possible. 



When the season allows choice of time for 

 cutting, the stripping and topping of the stalks, 

 if done at all while the canes stand, should, in 

 order to avoid diminution of the sugar, not be 

 so until just before the cutting; or these opera- 

 tions may, by methods known to the cultiva- 

 tors, be performed after cutting, and perhaps at 

 the mill previous to grinding. Several patent- 

 " cane-strippers " have been devised, in some of 

 which' the knives are adjusted to fit the taper 

 of the stalk ; but there is still some question as 

 to their value. Frosted or dry foliage may, 

 with less injury than the fresh and green, 

 be left on in grinding; the worst disadvantage 

 in the former cases is, that the leaves remove 

 with them some juice. Mr. D. M. Cook, of 

 Mansfield, O., urges the importance of deter- 

 mining and seizing upon the point of the cul- 

 minating of sugar in the juice, and also of an- 

 ticipating a possible reacidulation, liable to 

 come on as a preparation for sending forth new- 

 shoots from buds of the upper joints a change 

 more to be apprehended if the weather be warm 

 and wet. Usually the canes, after cutting, may 

 lie on the ground awhile to cure the leaves ; or 

 they may be worked as cut, and particularly if 

 quite ripe. With the precautions not to take 

 the stalks while heated by the sun, nor while at 

 all wet, these may be stacked, but so that no 

 rain can enter, and covered ; or they may be 

 housed in sheds, and thus kept for some weeks : 

 the result of this treatment (so different from 

 that necessitated by the cane of the tropics) is 

 said frequently to be an increase in the per- 

 centage of saccharine matter in the juice, and 

 at all events a diminution of its feculent mat- 

 ters. As to this storing of the cane for some 

 weeks, however, the authorities seem divided ; 

 and a decrease in the amount of sugar certainly 

 occurs in some cases, especially from too long 

 keeping, or with canes not in a highly dry state. 



Expressing of Sorghum Juice. As in sugar dis- 

 tricts generally, the mills employed for sorghum 

 are essentially a system of smooth rollers, usually 

 three in number one larger, the "main," and 

 two smaller, the "feed," and the "bagasse" 

 roller these being all, in fact, commonly quite 

 small, and set upright, and the power applied 

 by horses. Steam-power is believed to be the 

 more economical, at least beyond tbe work of 

 eight or ten horses; and water-power, if at 

 hand, cheapest of all. Generally speaking, the 

 mills (or, indeed, other works) of larger capaci- 

 ty, if kept employed, are not only relatively the 

 less wasteful, but conducted with greater actual 

 profit. Upright rollers, set with no yield, are 

 very liable to accident from inequalities of the 

 feed ; and again, to compress portions of it too 

 slightly to extract the juice. Horizontal roll- 

 ers, which are coming more into use, should be 



