SORGHUM. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



707 



while, pmp'-ny applied in connection with a 



:iinn>ri salt aii'l it serves an 



! -rit put-pose in the curing of nu-aK I'i- 



nally, it may In- remarked that, although it is 



ditlieult to obtain the saccharine matters 

 juiiv in form of a crystallized sugar, yet 



their chemical tendencies, not less than the 



- of experiment, show that it is extremely 



:vcrt thoiii wholly into alcohol ; and 

 so il)t:iiiu-d, is also naturally purer and 

 'l.'siruMo than that aftbrded by the juice 



Of till 1 1'Cet. 



f fforffTium Culture. The data are 



not at hand for showing, generally, the profits 



which may he realized from the cultivation of 



':in.sc and African canes, nor even, com- 



Sarativcly, the probable value of the crop in 

 HFerent parts of the country ; and besides, cer- 

 atements relative to these points, are al- 

 ready familiar to the agricultural public. 



Mr. Cook puts the expense of cultivating nn 

 acre of sorghum at from $37 to $45 possibly. 

 $50. The canes raised by himself, yielded 

 about 225 gallons of syrup to the acre ; and 

 from which he obtained'? Ibs. to the gallon, or 

 1,575 Ibs., per acre, of sugar. Mr. J. II. Smith, 

 of (.juincy, ill., made from the crop of 1801 the 

 quantity of 1,500 Ibs. of sugar to the acre, with 

 an additional 115 gallons of fair syrup. Rating 

 the sugar at 10 cts. per pound, and the syrup 

 at 40 cts. per gallon, wholesale, this would give : 



1,500 Ibs. sugar, at lOc $150 00 



115 gulls, molasses, at 40c 40 00 



Deduct expenses, say. 



$196 00 

 50 00 



Balance, net profit $146 00 



Yearly Product of Syrup and Sugar from 

 Sorghum. Mr. Hedges considers the number 

 of mills in use for grinding these canes, in 1860, 

 to have been 6,000, and taking the product for 

 each mill at 20 barrels of syrup of 40 gallons 

 each, finds a total quantity of 120,000 barrels, 

 and total value, $2,400,000. Mr. Clough, in 

 1864, states that sorghum sugar, though begin- 

 ning to be made throughout the districts gener- 

 ally, is not yet produced in sufficient quantity 

 to enter materially into the trade. The product 

 in syrup, in 1862, in the ten States below named, 

 which furnished full returns, was (as per tables 

 of the Agricultural Department) as follows: 



The sorghum 5s, however, also raised to con- 

 tblo extent in many other of the States, as 

 in Kentucky, Tennessee, North und South Caro- 

 lina, (Jenr-ia, Alabama, and Texas, a well as 

 in New Hampshire, Connecticut, and perhaps 

 other New England States ; while recently, it 

 is becoming a popular crop also in Maryland 

 and Delaware. The crop generally of the year 

 1868 was largely destroyed by frostg; that of 

 1864 was estimated to be about equal to the 

 yield of two years previous*, the canes being 

 indeed more injured, but a larger area being 

 planted the product in Illinois alone, however, 

 showing a great increase (more than one-fifth) 

 over that of 1862. (See also estimates at close 

 of the article SUGAR, MANUFACTURE OF, etc.) 



Source* of Information. The materials for 

 this article have been drawn mainly from the 

 sources the language of which has also doubt- 

 less been in a few instances adhered to which 

 follow, namely : certain reports, etc., in the vol- 

 ume devoted to Agriculture of the Patent Office 

 Reports for 1857; the article of Mr. Isaac A. 

 Hedges, entitled " Sorghum Culture and Sugar- 

 Making," and that of Mr. D. M. Cook, on the 

 Sorghum, in the like volume for 1861 ; the ar- 

 ticle of -Mr. Wm. Clough, editor of the Sorgo 

 Journal, Cincinnati, entitled "Sorghum, or 

 Northern Sugar-Cane," in the "Report of the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture," for 1864; and 

 an article upon " Sugar," in the Merchant*? Mag- 

 azine, v. 48, Jan., 1863. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. The necessity for a 

 modification of the laws of this State relative to 

 persons of color which should enable the civil 

 authorities to extend jurisdiction over them in 

 all cases, and should make the punishment of 

 crime more certain against all classes, and the 

 adoption of such measures of relief as the con- 

 dition of the people required, caused the Gov- 

 ernor to assemble the Legislature in extra ses- 

 sion on September 6tb. At that time more 

 than one-half of the inhabitants of the State 

 were exempt from all liability to punishment 

 under the laws. In most of the districts neither 

 provost nor freedmen's courts were in existence, 

 and persons of color perpetrated crime with 

 impunity. Some of the gravest offences against 

 society were tried before military commissions 

 .Bitting at a distance and attended with long de- 

 lay, great expense, and a difficulty in procuring 

 an attendance of witnesses. The provost courts, 

 where organized, imposed unequal and lighter 

 punishments than was imposed by the State 

 courts on whites. The Governor proposed to 

 remedy the difficulty by extending the jurisdic- 

 tion in civil and restricting it in criminal cases to 

 offences punishable with less than death, and 

 thereby relieving other courts. He nrged the 

 admission of the testimony of colored persons 

 in all cases, saying : 



The first paragraph of the section admitting per- 

 sons of color to testify in all cases where themselves 

 or their race are directly interested, and excluding 

 them by implication in all cases where they are not 

 intcri'st'eil, cannot be reconciled with sound policy or 

 just discrimination. They are admitted in that clas* 



