284 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



advice to be followed by securing a photograph for comparison with that of 1883, 

 and with others to be taken hereafter, from time to time, as aids to future 

 investigations. 



" The conclusions of the committee, that the application of any chemicals with 

 the view of restoring the original color of the ink would be unwise, and that the 

 application of any solution, such as collodion, parafSn, etc., is neither necessary 

 nor advisable for the purpose of strengthening the parchment or making it 

 moisture proof, are welcome as avoiding experimental treatment of a document so 

 precious and historic. 



" Again thanking the committee for their attention and care, 



" I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



"John Hay." ^^ 



It appears from the foregoing correspondence that the second 

 committee agreed with the first as to the principal causes of the 

 deterioration observable in the document and as to the best means 

 of preventing further damage. The press copying mentioned 

 is no doubt that which took place when the copperplate fac- 

 simile was made by direction of John Quincy Adams in 1824. 

 It will be observed that a photograph of the document was made 

 in 1883 and again in 1903, but since that latter date no more 

 appear to have been taken. The safe containing it has been 

 opened but once during the last decade, namely, in May, 191 1. 



COMMITTEE ON SORGHUM SUGAR. 1881 



The varieties of sorghum which are available as sources of 

 sugar have been cultivated for a long period in China and 

 Africa. Seed was first imported into the United States from the 

 former country by way of France, and from Natal about the 

 year 1855. The sorghum plant is far more hardy than sugar- 

 cane, and was successfully cultivated over a wide area, especially 

 in the western and northwestern parts of the United States. 

 The outbreak of the Civil War caused a scarcity of sugar-cane 

 throughout the country, and the saccharine products of sorghum 

 were greatly in demand to supply the deficiency. These 

 products, however, did not take the form of sugar, but of syrup. 

 In i860, nearly 7,000,000 gallons of sorghum syrup were manu- 



'^ Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1903, pp. 14, 15. 



