FOOD PRODUCTS. 51 



country, like that of many other cultivated plants, is en- 

 tirely unknown. The sugar-cane being propagated by 

 means of buds and suckers, the mature fruits have scarcely, 

 if ever, been seen. It \vas reported, however, from Bar- 

 bados, at the end of 1888, that seedling sugar-canes had 

 been found, arid were being raised at the Botanical Station 

 in that island. It was further subsequently stated " that 

 certain varieties of sugar-canes still retain the power of pro 

 ducing mature seed." This is an interesting fact from a 

 scientific point of view, but it is also of considerable interest 

 to the sugar planters, who may be able to raise plants from 

 seeds that may prove far superior to the old varieties both 

 in quality of sugar and extent of yield. 



Another kind of sugar which has attracted much atten- 

 tion is that obtained from the stems of the American 

 Sorghum (Sort/hum saccharatum), and hence called SORGIUM 

 SUGAR. An extensive series of experiments in the culti- 

 vation of the several varieties of the plant, and the manu- 

 facture of sugar from the stalk, was conducted by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture in 1879. At 

 the same time, also, much attention was given to maize as 

 a source of sugar. But these new fields of research have 

 not at present affected our sugar supply, though it is not 

 impossible they may ere long do so. 



The total imports of sugar, refined and unrefined, in 

 1889 amounted to 26,567,505 cwt., against 7,761,240 cwt. 

 in 1856. 



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