40 Select- Plants for Industrial Culture and 



yield of juice in stripped stalks from plants grown at Washington 

 being 58 per cent., the sugar really obtainable by ordinary process 

 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, that 

 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 advancing to maturity, will resist 

 some frost ; that no more than 12| per cent, of the sugar is lost by 

 the evaporation of the juice to syrup, quite as great a loss taking 

 place in the juice of sugar-cane by defacation, skimming and 

 inversion (change into glucose or grape-sugars). The committee 

 considered this new Sorghum-industry placed already on a safe and 

 profitable footing. Sorghum-stubbles are of surprising value as 

 pastoral feed. Sugar-Sorghum was introduced into the United 

 States for rural purposes only 30 years ago ; but its culture spread 

 with unexampled rapidity there, having only its counterpart in the 

 tea- and cinchona-culture of the last decennia in India. The process 

 of manufacture of sugar from Sorghum is not more difficult than 

 that of cane, and less complicated than that of beet. Some varieties 

 mature in 80 days, others require twice that time, the Orange- 

 variety becomming perennial, and is with the Amber- variety most 

 saccharine, while the Honduras-variety gives a very heavy crop ; 

 the broomcorn-variety is poor in sugar. Sorghum will thrive well 

 in sandy loam too light for maize and in a clime too dry for that 

 corn, and can be grown closer. The variety A. bicolor (Roxburgh) 

 ripens its seeds in Lower India within three or four months of the 

 time of sowing, the produce being often upwards of one hundred- 

 fold, and the grain particularly wholesome for human sustenance. 

 Sorghum giganteum (Edgeworth) represents a form of very tall 

 growth. 



Andropogron Schoenanthus, Linm'. (A.Martini, Koxburgh.) 



Southern Asia, extending to Japan, also in Africa. One of the 

 " Lemon-grasses." It will live in arid places. The medicinal 

 Sirri-Oil is prepared from the root. The Australian A. bombycinus 

 (R. Brown) approaches in affinity this species. 



Andropogron scoparius, Michaux. 



North-America. Takes permanent possession of sandy or other- 

 wise poor land, and is regarded as one of the best forage-resources 

 of the prairies. 



Andropog*on sericeus, E. Brown. 



Hotter regions of Australia, even in desert-tracts, also extending 

 to New Caledonia and the Phillipine Islands. A fattening peren- 

 nial pasture-grass, worthy of praise. Yields enormously during 

 the dry summer-months [Fr. Turner]. 



