COMMITTEES ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 285 



factored, and in 1870, three years after the close of the war, the 

 production had risen to 16,000,000 gallons. It increased from 

 year to year during the next decade, and was about at its maxi- 

 mum in 1880, when the output was more than 28,000,000 gallons. 



Although beginning as early as 1863 some sorghum sugar was 

 made in the United States every year, it was not until near the 

 time when sorghum syrup production was at its height that the 

 attention of the Government was turned toward the promotion 

 of the manufacture of this kind of sugar. In 1878, before the 

 agricultural bureau of the Government had developed into the 

 Department of Agriculture, and while Dr. Peter Collier was the 

 chemist of the bureau, experiments were commenced under his 

 direction which were intended to test the possibility of producing 

 sugar from sorghum on a large scale and at a low cost. The 

 investigation was entered upon with great enthusiasm and be- 

 came a matter of wide interest throughout the country. Farmers 

 and manufacturers cooperated with the Government in pro- 

 moting the undertaking and large amounts of capital were in- 

 vested in machinery and appliances for the conversion of 

 sorghum juices into sugar. The press of the country kept the 

 subject prominently before the people and it was for some years 

 a common topic of conversation. 



The experiments of the Government were carried on for three 

 or four years, but resulted unfavorably. The Commissioner of 

 Agriculture remarked that " the business of manufacturing 

 sugar from sorghum at the department failed in 1881, having 

 furnished discouragement rather than information to those en- 

 gaged in it." The same year Dr. Collier, at the invitation of the 

 Academy, read a paper at its November session in Philadelphia 

 on " Facts regarding Sorghum, and some conclusions as to its 

 value as a source of sugar." Professor Silliman, who had intro- 

 duced Dr. Collier, then presented the following resolution 

 which was approved by the Council : 



" Resolved, That the subject of sorghum sugar, the experimental results on 

 which, obtained during the three or four years last past by Dr. Peter Collier, of the 

 Agricultural Department, submitted in brief, by invitation, to the academy at 



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