2 3 o PLANT AND ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 



it was shown at Rio Grande that the juice from clean cane 

 can be worked without purification. 



"Last of all, the chief thing to be accomplished is the pro- 

 duction of a sorghum plant containing a reasonably constant 

 percentage of crystallizable sugar." l 



The above statement appears to be where the sorghum 

 industry rests for a solution of the problem. 



"The universal experience of practical manufacturers 

 shows that the average constitution of the sorghum cane is far 

 inferior to that indicated in many of the tables of analyses." 2 



" Taking the means of several seasons as a sure basis of com- 

 putation, it can now be said that the juices of the sorghum 

 as they come from the mill do not contain over 10 per cent, 

 of sucrose; whilst the percentage of other solids in solution 

 is at least 4. It is needless to say to a practical sugar-maker 

 that the working of such a juice is one of extreme difficulty, 

 and the output of sugar is necessarily small. 3 



"It is true the present outlook is discouraging; but dis- 

 couragement is not defeat. The time has now come for solid, 

 energetic work. Science and practice must join improved 

 agriculture, and all together can accomplish what neither 

 alone would ever be able to achieve." 4 



The beet-sugar factory at Alvarado makes money with a 

 competition of free cane sugar imported from the Hawaiian 

 Islands under the one-sided reciprocity treaty now in force. 



As this is so, there seems to be no reason why sorghum 

 should not compete with other sugars when its physiology and 

 chemistry have become better known. 



Compelled now to accept the fact that there is no sound 

 scientific expectation for the immediate success financially 

 of the production of sugar from sorghum, we are only the more 

 compelled to mark the present difficulties, and point out, as 

 I have done, the lines of research that will finally enable the 

 problem of an indigenous sugar supply to be safely solved. 



1 Bui. No. 14, Chem. Div. Dept. of Agr.,, p. 42. 



2 Bui. No. 5, Chem. Div. Dept. of Agr., 1885. 



3 Ibid., p. 185. 



4 Ibid., p. 187. 



