630 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



varieties it looks not unlike broom-corn {Sorghum vulgare), to which 

 it is also related. 



There are many modifications, or so-called "sub- varieties," of 

 sorghum, which differ greatly in height, size, weight, and general 

 appearance. Some varieties mature in Minnesota in about one hun- 

 dred days from planting (as the Early Amber), while other varieties 

 are only ripened to perfection in the Southern States (as the Honduras). 

 Although there are more than one hundred real or imaginary " sub- 

 varieties " of sorghum within the limits of the United States, it is 

 probably safe to say that the question of profitable sugar-j^roduction 

 may be determined from experiments made with a few typical varie- 

 ties, originally known as Chinese and African. 



The first Chinese sorghum was imported into this country in 1853, 

 from the noted house of Vilmorin, in France. In 1857 the African 

 varieties, some sixteen in number, were brought to this country from 

 Natal by an English merchant, named Leonard Wray. *' To these 

 African varieties the general name imphees was given, while to the 

 variety from China the name Chinese sugar-cane was given." So-called 

 hybrids have been extensively advertised, yet the weight of evidence 

 is against hybridization of the different sorghums, and the new varie- 

 ties are probably the products of mixed seed. 



During the progress of the civil war, sorghum played no unim- 

 portant part in helping to supply a portion of the deficiency in our im- 

 ports of sugar. In many of the Western States, notably Ohio and 

 Illinois, great amounts of sorghum-molasses were made by the farmers 

 with crude and inexpensive apparatus. Usually the sirup had a pecul- 

 iar, sharp taste, due to imperfect purification of the juice, the use of 

 lime for this purpose not being generally understood. As a rule, also, 

 the canes were crushed while still unripe, and consequently not con- 

 taining the maximum amount of sugar. In spite of these unfavorable 

 conditions, the reports that sugar had crystallized from these sirups 

 were not infrequent. 



At the close of the war many who had made sorghum-sirup again 

 preferred to buy foreign sugar and molasses. The introduction of 

 glucose-sirups may also have been instrumental in diverting attention 

 from sorghum, and, for ten or more years, comparatively little was 

 heard of the new sugar-plant. 



About the year 1876 it was again brought into public notice through 

 very favorable results, obtained by farmers in the Northwestern States, 

 in the production of sirup from the variety known as Minnesota Early 

 Amber. 



So many and frequent were the requests that this plant be inves- 

 tigated, that General William G. Le Due, a Minnesota man, upon his 

 accession to the office of Commissioner of Agriculture, in 1877, deter- 

 mined that the possibilities of this sugar-plant should be accurately 

 ascertained for the benefit of all who were concerned. 



