Naturalisation in Extra-Tropical Countries. 43 



Andropogon provincialis, Lamarck. 



Southern Europe. Strongly recommended by Bouche for fixing 

 loose maritime sand. Attains a height of 5 feet. A. furcatus (Mueh- 

 lenberg) is the same species, according to Hackel, seemingly immi- 

 grated and naturalised in the United States. 



Aridropogon refractus, R. Brown. 



Northern and Eastern Australia, Polynesia. Mr. Bailey observes 

 of this perennial grass, that it is equally excellent for pasture and 

 hay, and that it produces a heavy crop during summer ; the root is 

 fragrant. According to Mr. Holmes, it is easily inflammable, of 

 inferior fodder-value, hardly ever touched by cattle* on account of its 

 scent, but is particularly used for mattresses in Fiji. 



Andropogon saccharatus, Roxburgh.* (Sorghum saccharatum, Persoon.) 



Tropical Asia, or perhaps only indigenous in equatorial Africa. 

 The Broom-corn or Sugar-Millet; also passing as " Durra," " Dochua," 

 and " Battari." Tall, usually annual. Produces of all grasses, 

 except the Teosinte* and maize, the heaviest of any fodder-crops in 

 warm climates. From the saccharine juice sugar is obtainable. A 

 sample of such, prepared from plants of the Melbourne 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. Mr. F. Rosan obtained by the aid of 

 irrigation as much as 30 tons of cut sorghum in a season from an acre 

 on the Lower Murray-River. The plant can be advantageously utilised 

 for preparing syrup, especially for domestic use. 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 1860 

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

 the United States. General Le Due, then Commissioner for Agri- 

 culture at Washington, stated, that Mr. Seth Kenny, of Minnesota, 

 obtained from the " Early Amber " variety of this Sorghum up to 

 250 gallons of heavy syrup per acre. 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 neutralising the 

 lime, remaining in the juice, by sulphurous acid. Raw 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 as cheaply as cane- or beet-sugar. The 

 seeds are very valuable for stable-fodder as well as for poultry-feed, 



