in Extra- Tropical Countries. 31 



of all grasses, except the Teosinte and maize, the heaviest of all 

 fodder-crops in warm climates. From the saccharine juice sugar is 

 obtainable. A sample of such, prepared from plants of the Mel- 

 bourne Botanic Garden, was shown already at the Exhibition of 1862. 

 This Sorghum furnishes also material for a well-known kind of 

 brooms. Mr. Simmonds relates, that as many as 150,000 doz. of 

 these brooms have been made in one single factory during a year. 

 To pigs this plant is very fattening also. The plant can be advan- 

 tageously utilized for preparing syrup. For this purpose the sap is 

 expressed at the time of flowering, and simply evaporated; the yield 

 is from 100-200 gallons from the acre. Already in I860 nearly 

 seven millions of gallons of sorghum-treacle were produced in the 

 United States. General Le Due, then commissioner for agriculture 

 at Washington, states that Mr. Seth Kenny, of Minnesota, obtained 

 from the " Early Amber " variety up to 250 gallons of heavy syrup 

 from one acre of this sorghum. Machinery for the manufacture of 

 sorghum-sugar on plantations can be erected at a cost of 50 to 100. 

 Sorghum juice can be reduced to treacle and sugar without the use of 

 chemicals, beyond clearing with lime and neutralizing the lime 

 remaining in the juice by sulphurous acid. Eaw sorghum-sugar is 

 nearly white. By an improved method Mr. F. L. Stewart obtained 

 10 Ibs. of sugar from a gallon of dense syrup. At the State- 

 University's experimental farm, in Wisconsin, Professors Swenson 

 and Henry have proved, that sorghum-sugar, equal to the best cane-sugar, 

 can be produced at 4J cents per pound. The seeds are very valuable 

 for stable-fodder as well as for poultry-feed, and may even be utilized 

 for bread and cakes. The stem can be used as a culinary vegetable. 

 See also the elaborate chemical reports by Dr. P. Collier, Washington, 

 1880-1882; further, the essay by Commissioner Hon. G. B. Loring, 

 1883. 



An able report from a committee of the National Academy of 

 Science, submitted to the Senate of the United States on the 

 sugar-producing capacity of the Sorghum, gives the following con- 

 clusions: That from about 4,500 most accurate analyses, instituted by 

 Dr. Collier in the Department of Agriculture in Washington, the 

 presence of cane-sugar in the juice of the best varieties of Sorghum 

 (Amber, Honduras and Orange) in such quantity is established, as to 

 equal the yield of that of sugar-cane, the average quantity of crystallis- 

 able sugar in the juice being 16 per cent., the average percentage of 

 juice in stripped stalks from plants grown at Washington being 58 per 

 cent., the sugar really obtainable by ordinary processes of manufacture 

 from the juice being 11 '30 per cent. It is further demonstrated, 

 that the Sorghum-stalks should be cut only, when the seeds are 

 already of a doughy consistence or still* harder, and the stalks should 

 be worked up immediately after cutting; further it is shown, that the 

 sugar from Sorghum is not inferior to that from cane or beet, and 

 that excellent sugar can likewise be obtained from maize ; that 

 Sorghum when advanced to maturity will resist some frost ; that 

 no more than 12-J per cent, of the sugar is lost by the evaporation 



