706 



SORGHUM. 



ing for purifying a much larger body of tolera- 

 bly pure, than of impure, syrup. Accordingly, 

 the first concentration should be carried to no 

 more than 20 B., or the syrup, if denser, 

 brought to this point again by adding hot 

 water; and being then neutralized with lime, 

 aiding perhaps with addition of some fine char- 

 coal, and of milk or eggs, etc., it should be 

 made to boil, and all impurities rising care- 

 fully removed ; it will then be in condition for 

 filtering to the best advantage. "Well-filtered 

 sorghum syrup is spoken of as being bright, of 

 an amber color, and of very pleasing flavor. 

 After filtering, the syrup should be boiled again, 

 with the least possible delay, to the required 

 concentration the vacuum-pan, and a tem- 

 perature not exceeding 150, here giving tho 

 best results. 



Mr. J. F. Sheldon (or Shedden, and, it ap- 

 pears), of Mercer Co., 111., has patented a mode 

 of treating sorghum syrup with soda, bitartrate 

 of potash, and milk, in succession, to remove 

 the acrid and vegetable (" sorghum") taste, and 

 to purify ; and also, modes of clarifying cold 

 syrup, and sweetening it, when sour, by adding 

 sesquicarbonate of potash (saleratus) 1 Ib. to 

 20 gallons ; and for causing cold sorghum syrup 

 to granulate, by adding the like quantity of tho 

 same or of other forms of alkali. Syrups be- 

 ginning or likely to ferment, in warm weather, 

 from having been finished in impure state, may 

 be re-handled adding a few gallons of water, 

 and some six quarts of lime-water at 4 B., to 

 the barrel, and boiling again : much scum 

 rises, and the syrup is sweetened, and made 

 bright, and of good color. 



Sorghum Sugar. The doubts which at first 

 existed as to whether the saccharine matter of 

 the sorgho and iraphee were in reality, at least 

 in good degree, a crystallizable cane sugar, or 

 were only glucose, appear of late to have been 

 quite dispelled, and not merely through the re- 

 sults of analyses which have been made, but 

 also by the manufacture and exhibition in 

 numerous instances of samples of sugar from 

 the sources named, and which have been de- 

 clared identical with and equal to that from the 

 tropical cane. The chief reasons why the pro- 

 duction of sugar has not as yet become more 

 generally an object with the cultivators of sor- 

 ghum, appear to exist in the great difficulties 

 attending the management of the juice, already 

 mentioned, and particularly in the want of 

 some ready and economical method of bringing 

 the saccharine solution into a sufficiently pure 

 condition for granulation. The only important 

 question in the case, therefore, still remaining 

 undecided, is that as to whether sugar can be 

 produced from the sorghum at a cost enabling 

 it to compete with the New Orleans and other 

 cane sugars; and this question, it would now 

 appear, is most likely to receive an affirmative 

 answer, if at all, through the further application 

 of chemical principles and the trial of new pu- 

 rifying agents, in the treatment of the juice. 



Mr. Hedges, along with many others, ex- 



presses confidence that the production of sugar 

 economically from the sorghum will yet be ac- 

 complished. He had secured a fine crystalliza- 

 tion, beginning in two hours and complete 

 within two days, in batches of properly finished 

 syrup ; though the best sample of sorghum 

 sugar, with a single exception, that he had 

 seen, was one obtained from syrup kept over, 

 and which did not begin to crystallize until 

 the following summer. Evidently, however, 

 in order to successful manufacturing, the gran- 

 ulation and purging of the sugar should be 

 complete within about a week. 



For the making of sugar, undoubtedly, tho 

 best seasons and maturity of the cane are most 

 favorable, and a juice, if possible, marking at 

 least 10 B. ; while the most thorough filtering 

 and defecation practicable is requisite, and the 

 use of the vacuum-pan, after the preparatory 

 concentration and filtering, doubtless to be pre- 

 ferred. The high temperatures required for 

 the final boiling in the open air about 225 

 for syrup, and 230 for sugar are likely to 

 caramelize a portion of the saccharine matter, 

 imparting a brown color and burnt flavor. 

 Boiling in such manner, for s'agar, the heat 

 should not rise above the temperature last 

 named; and the syrup should not be made too 

 thick, or its crystallization is impeded. When 

 the charge is removed into coolers, its tem- 

 perature should not be allowed to fall below 

 about 90, until granulation is complete this 

 condition rendering necessary an inclosed and 

 artificially-heated granulating room. The cool- 

 ers should be wooden boxes ; and draining-boxes, 

 of V shape, and with slide-covered opening in 

 the bottom, should be in readiness to receive 

 the sugar when granulated. Mr. Cook greatly 

 expedited the cleansing of the sugar by intro- 

 ducing the paste of crystals and molasses into a 

 strong linen sack, and subjecting it thus to the 

 action of an ordinary press, obtaining the sugar 

 dry in this way within an hour. In well- 

 grained and cleansed sugar, the "sorghum 

 taste" will not be found, the matters imparting 

 it being drained out in the molasses. 



Other Uses of Sorghum. Besides the em- 

 ployment of the saccharine juice of the sorghum 

 for the making of syrup and of sugar, of alcohol 

 and vinegar, of its fibre for paper stock, and of 

 the crushed stalks for fuel and for manure, the 

 plant and certain of its products also serve other 

 important uses. Ah 1 parts of the plant are eaten 

 by horses, cattle, sheep, swine, and poultry; 

 and the prejudices which at first existed against 

 it, as being supposed liable to injure the stock 

 feeding upon it, are now well-nigh done away. 

 To produce the entire plant for feed, the seed 

 may be sown broadcast ; and the crop may be 

 fed either green or dry. The seed from matured 

 canes, some 40 bushels to the acre, may also be 

 fed to cattle, etc., with admirable fattening ef- 

 fects ; or, ground, it makes a somewhat colored, 

 but not unpalatable bread. 



The syrup is, in the rural districts, to some 

 extent used for general sweetening purposes.- 



