11 



its allied bodies are much more strongly dextro gyratory than sucrose. 

 The points developed by the experiments may bo summarized as follows : 



(1 ) Sorghum eaue develops sometimes in Louisiana a juice containing 

 a very high percentage of sucrose, but combined with other bodies which 

 render its separation from the juice difficult. 



(H) The occurrence of a wet summer attended by the severe wind- 

 storms which are so common in that locality prevent the development 

 of a high sucrose content in the growing sorghum. 



(.'*) The possible utilization of sugar machinery for a longer manu- 

 facturing season is one of the chief inducements in the sugarcane 

 regions for the cultivation of sorghum as a sugar-producing plant. 



(4) Delay in working the cane after cutting is not as dangerous as 

 Las been supposed. 



It will be understood that these are conclusions which I have drawn 

 from reading Professor Stubbs's report, and are not formulated in the 

 above manner by himself. 



The results of attempts to grow sorghum for sugar-making purposes 

 on the low sugar lauds of Louisiana, in my opinion, are not highly en- 

 couraging to the belief that these lands and their climate are the best 

 suited in the United States for the production of sorghum, as Professor 

 Stubbs says. On the other hand, I believe there are few localities in 

 the United States, where sorghum grows at all, in which a better crop 

 for sugar-making purposes can not be produced. Experience has shown 

 that the dry climate of southern and western Kansas produces the most 

 uniform crop of sorghum for sugar making purposes, while the data of 

 Professor Stubbs, which follow, show that the Louisiana product, for the 

 present year at least, is about the poorest on record. One point, how- 

 ever, should be borne in mind, viz, that the course of experiment pur- 

 sued by the Louisiana experiment station is the one which is best suited 

 for the rapid development of every possibility of sorghum culture in 

 that State. The experimental trials which are made with sorghum will 

 show both its weak and strong points, and in the wide variation which 

 the plant shows there will doubtless be some variety produced or found 

 which will be best suited to the peculiar conditions which obtain in that 

 locality. The soil and climatic conditions of the northern part of the 

 State, where cotton is now grown, will probably be found better suited 

 to the production of sorghum than those of the present sugar -producing 

 localities. 1 feel quite sure that the expectation expressed by IVofrs^n- 

 Stubbs of being able to realize under certain conditions as much as I'JO 

 to 125 pounds of sugar from sorghum cane may be fully met under 

 favorable circumstances; but it would still remain to be demonstrated 

 that this yield could be reasonably expected from \ear to year, or even 

 occasionally, on a large scale. The subsequent experiments which are 

 promised by Professor Stubbs at the Louisiana station will doubtless 

 set at rest, in a few years, all these questions, and demonstrate to ihe 

 sugar makers of Louisiana just what can be expected from sorghum as 

 an adjunct to their great industry. 



