SORGHUM 



SORGHUM SUGAR AND SPII'JI VULOA* 



h.L-h. after M |,..-l. it gradually disappears as the plant manures (M/. TV. 



cxcix. a, 399). Apart from th Mtrmi n>n in the amount of prusMe ar*l ott*aV 



able, which II.-.-..MI|..HII.^ thu ripening of the plants, variation appear* 



be caiiHt><l hy cliiniitii- iind . .ih. influences since aurghum plant* at <>> imm- 



stage of gowth \ I.-LI diti.T.-nt nmtituM of prussir acid in different ejoniri i 



inn .in.! li. nry's observal bean continued by Leather in Indfc* 



(Agri. Journ. //,./.. I'.NH,. , . ,., .,,., 220-5). Brunswick in Queensland. A very 

 in th.- Imt.-d stat.-x and -.th.-r investigators, so thai there can be no doubt that 

 tli'- t..\i. -n> i >it.^l by green sorghum is due to this property of 



producing pruiwic a-i.l. Stephcnson has reooriled that a sample of India* 



" \aimn.-d hy him -itninnd nnnsiHnrsMii misntitirs nf pnlasaiitm nf'n 



and -i. .-sted that this nnirht be the cause of the poisonous character of thr 

 |.i.-int ; hut apart from th>- i" i.-t that potassium nitrate is not poisonous, the f<-t 

 r.-<-ord.-d above leave no doubt that Stepheneon's assumption is erruueous. If* 

 <>hsi Tvation is, however, of special interest since many of the plant* 



special interest since many 



contain cvanogenetic glucosides of thv dhurrin type have been found to 

 also notable quantities of potassium nitr.it.-. and Trent has shown th/it m 

 plants there is reason to believe that t!,.- potassium nitrate is utilised as a 

 source of nitrogen for the synthesis of the characteristic gluooeides they onneahi 

 [Cf. T. A. Williams, Sorghum at a Forage Crop, in U.S. Farmer' t BuU., I 

 No. 50 ; Lyon and Hitchcock. Forage Crops, U.S. Bureau of Plant 1m 

 Bull., 1904, No. 59.] 



SUGAR SORGHUM OR IMPHEE.ln Bikanir and Ajmir a form of sugar- Sugar, 

 yielding .!/ /JUH. designated the Alipura, has been known and cultivated from 

 time immemorial and used in the preparation .if the sugar-candy for wluch these 

 towns are famed. This statement was discussed some years ago in The Imditm 

 ilturist, but seems to have been contradictm! and then forgotten. In 1890 

 an official inquiry in the Panjab roiulted in the report that while in Fero/; 

 Sialkot, and elsewhere sweet sorghums were known, the saccharine property ** 

 was lost after a few years' cultivation in other districts to which these planU ' 

 had been experimentally conveyed. Of rtus, the amber and the 



collier seem to have attracted most attention. But according to the Pooita 

 Farm Report (1895, 9) there was little to choose between them either in per- 

 centage of sugar or value as fodder crops. The weight of molasses per acre 

 was found to be collier, 1,174 lb.. and amber, 1,072 Ib. (Cf. Wigley. .Vote on 

 Sorgho, Rev. Dept. Govt. Ind., 1877 ; Prod, of Sugar from Sorghum. U.S. DM* 

 Agri. Bull., 1890, No. 26; Wiley, Exper. with Sorghum, BuU.. 1890. No. 19; 

 1891, No. 34; 1892, No. 37; U.S. Yearbook Agri. Dept.. 1897. 80; 1899. 241-J : 

 Exper. Stat. Record, 1899. x., 345; 1900. xi.. 141. 319. 883 ; 1901. xii., 236. 547. 

 942 ; 1902, xiii., 42-3, 242 ; 1903, xiv., 757 ; U.S. Farmer's Bull., II 

 92 ; Agri. Oaz., 1891, 134 ; 1894, 579 ; Journ. Agri. S. Australia, 1902. 

 Rev. des Cult. Colon., 1902, xi., 51 ; Journ. Soc. Chem. Indust., 1902. v 



Spirit. Many writers allude to the fact that the Africans manufactu B a Spirit 

 sort of beer from the grain of sorghum. In 1884 Minchin Brothers c 

 Ganjam, reported that the juice of sorghum was ^* t L v *^ u f^|f^ 



1 is said 



v down i 



generally been said that changes in the fiscal laws would be 

 could be utilised. 



TRADE IN JUAR. 



It is exceedingly diflicult to furnish any wry .l.-titui Trade. 



garding the traffic 'in the products derived from Sorghum in 



India for the simple reason that as a rule the official sta- -At of 



two millets judr and bdjra conjointly. It would, however, seem 

 safe to assume that two-thirds of the quantities recorded 

 judr, the balance being bdjra. The estimate of total piodtol 

 above for judr alone comes to 100 million cwt. of grain. 

 judr and bdjra together during the years 19C 

 about H million cwt. ; assuming that two-ttndi are j 

 the total exports do not exceed 1 per cent, of the pr- 

 therefore, grown primarily to meet the food neoeawtie* 



1041 



