INDIANA CANE GROWERS. 463 



Mr. Eabb. Sorghum seed is valuable for feed. It is worth one-half that of 

 corn by getting it ground and feeding it to cattle. 



Dr. A. Furnas. I have come in competiton with Tennessee syrup. When I 

 went to Plainfield last fall to introduce my syrup, I found this article on the market. 

 They told me they could buy Tennessee syrup from twenty-five to thirty-five cents 

 per gallon, and did not want to pay from forty-five to fifty cents for sorghum; yet 

 they admitted that if it looked well they would rather have it, and finally did pay 

 me from forty-five to fifty cents per gallon. I think we should endeavor to make a 

 better article, all of the same grade, and the results will be more satisfactory. The 

 best yield of syrup I have made was out of the Red Imphse, a yield of two hun- 

 dred gallons to the acre ; it is always a red color, easily made, thick and heavy. 

 As the professor says, we have been throwing away too much ; we must save more, 

 and grind more closely. My son-in-law had thirty-six acres in wheat last year, 

 and I had nine acres in sorghum, and I made more money than he did. This year 

 he concluded to try the s«rghum, and it brought him profitable returns. The in- 

 ference from this is, that sorghum is a profitable crop. I have not sold a single 

 barrel for less than forty-five cents per gallon. We are not compelled to stick to 

 a profession that does not pay. Here in the North we can raise stock of various 

 kinds and practice farming, while in the South they have either cotton or cane, 

 and have to stick to it. 



W. F. Lietzman. "Every cloud has a silver lining," but very hard to discover 

 sometimes. There is good going to grow out of this business ; it will learn us to 

 economize. As far as one thing is concerned, I want to remark that if any of us 

 live to be as old as the " hills," we never will be able to make a uniform product from 

 the cane that grows in this country, unless we mix it and make a uniform product. 

 After experimenting with it for thirteen years, I find it is just as impossible to 

 make a uniform article from the sorghum we have to handle, as it is for the millers 

 to make a uniform grade of flour from the wheat of this country, unless we employ 

 an experienced chemist — which is impofssible for a small worker to do — to inspect 

 the cane brought to our factories. We work from almost nothing up to one hun- 

 dred gallons in each lot, and sometimes as high as two hundred lots in one season. 

 And who is able to employ a chemist to analyze these crops? And unless we do 

 this, we never can make a uniform grade of syrup. If we had vats that would 

 hold it all, we could draw from that, and get a uniform article. 



W. L. Anderson. This year I took a large steam boiler, cut it in two parts, and 

 put heads in them, holding from four to five hundred gallons each, into which I 

 ran my syrup, and virtually had one grade; yet I think there is no advantage in it, 

 and some disadvantages. You will have a nicer lot of molasses by leaving it out. 

 I have sold as high as thirty-five barrels in a single lot, and had no trouble because 

 it was not equally graded. 



Mr. Saterthwait. As far as the syrup is concerned, I have had no trouble in dis- 

 posing of it, but could not supply the demand. I fell 1,000 gallons short of the 

 demand in two weeks after I was done work. I sold at fifty cents per gallon, and, 

 considering the price of corn and other syrups and sugars, it was a fair average. 

 As far as my evaporator is concerned, I am satisfied with it, and do not wish to 

 exchange it for another. It is very rapid and thorough, purifying and cleansing, 



