II. S. OLCOTT ON THE SORGHO AND IMPHEE. 413 



even enthusiasm 'witli wliicli they dwell upon its good qualities 

 are truly gratifying to me. Upon the whole, therefore, the Sorgho 

 may be considered a dceidcd suecess in the South, and the results 

 obtained may be briefly summed up as follows : 



1. An acre of the stalks, properly cultivated, on fair land, will 

 yield from three hundred to six hundred gallons of excellent sirup, 

 equal to the best New Orleans, and worth, at present prices, from 

 forty-five to seventy cents per gallon, 



2. If planted early, it will fully ripen iiuo crops of seed and two 

 crops of cane for crushing ; as new shoots are invariably thrown 

 out from the roots, and attain full development after the first cut- 

 ting, which takes place about the 25th of July, in this latitude, in 

 favorable seasons. 



3. From 25 to 100 bushels of seed can be raised to the acre, 

 which seed, for all feeding purposes, is at least as valuable as oats. 



4. It bears repeated cutting when green, and is inferior to no 

 other plant for " soiling." 



5. The seed and fodder are fully equal in value to an ordinary 

 corn-crop, thus leaving the canes and their juice a clear profit to 

 the cultivator. 



6. It withstands our long droughts much better than common 

 corn, retaining its green color and succulence even after the seed 

 matures. 



The various economical uses to which the Sorgho may be ap- 

 plied are so fully adverted to in other portions of this work that 

 it is unnecessary to enter farther into detail, and I will close by 

 expressing the conviction that, wherever the climate is suitable to 

 its proper development, this plant will fully realize all its most 

 sanguine friends have ever claimed for it. 



Soils Eequired. 



[Mr. Olcott givps full directions for the mode of culture of the Sorgho, with notes 

 of the experiment of various persons. Wc quote a few paragraphs.] 



When we say that the Chinese sugar-cane can grow iipon all 

 soils on which a fair crop of Indian corn can be raised, we have 

 almost covered the entire question, and given the desired informa- 

 tion. The experiments which have been made upon it in Alge- 

 ria, France, and this country, have proved the fact that the best 

 results are obtained on loose, deep soils ; but it has been demon- 

 strated that the juices of plants grown upon soils largely composed 

 of vegetable detritus is more abundant in fecula, and the sugar 

 manifests a somewhat weaker propensity to crystallize than upon 

 any others ; but in such cases, as it contains a large quantity of 

 fecula, it can be readily converted into alcohol. M. Paul Madinier 

 says that for it are especially suitable light, sandy soils and cal- 

 careous soils, but particularly those formed from alluvial depos- 

 its. That in nearly every case, especially in Algeria and the 

 southern part of France, very excellent results will be attained by 



