APPENDIX K. 



H. S. OLCOTT ON THE SORGHO AND IMPIIEE. 



Introductory Note. — First appearance of the Sorgho and Imphce in Europe. — Vari- 

 ous Experiments. — Mr. Leonard Wray. — Introduction of the Sorgho into Amer- 

 ica. — History of Sorgho in the Southern States. — Soils required. — Yield of Seed 

 and Fodder. — Making Sugar or Sirup on a small Scale. — Boiling and Clarifying. 

 — Reducing to Sugar. — Mr. Wray's Patent. 



Introductory Note. 



[We have reflected much, and from time to time urged, either through the public 

 press or in speeches at agricultural fairs before farmers, the necessity of raising such 

 articles as less favored countries can not produce. It must be apparent to every per- 

 son that with our liigh labor we are not able to compete with our countrymen on the 

 other side of the Rocky Mountains in raising wheat, barle}', and oats. Labor for 

 some time to come must be high ; in fact, as long as the gold grounds will furnish 

 hope to a man of getting rich, he will go there as soon as he has earned enough on 

 a farm to keep him a few months prospecting. 



With this circumstance before us, we naturally inquire. What can we plant to make 

 a sure living, employ the least part of our land and working stock, implements, etc. ? 

 It is positively certain that raising grain will not only pay us nothing, but will make 

 us bankrupt. 



To be able to recommend some produce which would pay better than small grain, 

 we have made a European tour and diligent searches for a profitable produce. AVe 

 started out from home determined to examine the sugar-beet, fields, factories, etc., 

 to ascertain the yields per acre, profits, and manufacturing, etc., and the results of 

 our inquiries have been given in the preceding pages. It was well known that the 

 sugar-beet has been cultivated in France and Germany, and that sugar has been 

 manufactured from the same for many years ; that it must have been a paying busi- 

 ness there is proved by the increase of the sugar made from the beet. 



We reasoned thus : If raising the sugar-beet where land is fifty or even a hundred 

 times as high as in California ; where the land must be manured at a cost of from 

 fifteen to twenty dollars per acre ; where all taxes are high ; and, above all, where 

 sugar-beets do not grow so well as in California, why, then, should it not pay here, 

 and pay well? Therefore we made diligent inquiries while there, and found that 

 the culture of beets pays from fifty to a hundred dollars per acre ; the fact that this 

 branch of agriculture spread with rapid strides is sufficient proof of its excellency. 

 In all the European domains, France, Germany, England, Hungary, Sweden, and 

 even into Russia it has extended ; and, with all its increase, the demand for sugar is 

 greater and greater every year, and the price, instead of diminishing, increases. 



However, finding that within the last three or four years the Sorgho and Imp/tee 

 were introduced into France with great success, and in many places where the sugar- 

 beet was planted the Sorgho and Imphee have been introduced instead, and the time 

 is not far distant when this latter produce will put away the beet-root altogether, I 

 became convinced that the Sorgho and Imphee are superior to the sugar-beet for the 

 purpose of making sugar, or for fodder for cattle. 



In order to furnish some idea of the value and importance of these plants to our 

 agriculture, I give a few extracts from the valuable work of Mr. Henry S. Olcott, 

 "Principal of the Westchester Farm School," ]\Iount Vernon, near the city of New 

 York, on " The Sorgho and Imphee." This work contains full information respect- 

 ing these plants, the mode of culture, and the processes of making sugar, embodying 

 the author's own experience and observation, and the results of the various experi- 

 ments made in the various parts of America and Europe. It also contains illustra- 



