( 119) 



grown in China from time immemorial, but with the exclusiveness 

 of that people, its very existence had been jealously guarded from 

 the world. 



The same, or a similar plant had been cultivated in Europe at 

 different periods during the dark ages, but the want of intercourse 

 and the oppressive feudal system of that day had repressed any ad- 

 vancement in science and arts, as well as in agriculture. 



The elder Pliny, in the first century, describes a plant under the 

 name of milidum quod ex India in Italium invectum nigro colors, (a 

 millet of dark color brought from India to Italy). Millium means 

 thousands, and refers to the number of seed on a plant. Fuchius 

 describes, in 1512, a plant cultivated in Belgium called sorgi. In 

 1552, Fragus says, in a work on botany, a panicum plinii was culti- 

 vated in Germany, and accurately describes this plant. In 1591, 

 Gosner names this same plant sorghum. In Italy in 1595, in his 

 commentaries on Dioscorides, Matthioli calls it indieum millium, or 

 Indian millet. Gerard, an English writer, in 1597, describes this 

 and other varieties of sorghum as dhouro corn, broom corn and 

 chocolate corn. 



Thus it is seen that this plant, however new to us, was cultivated 

 in England, Belgium and Italy in the sixteenth century, and that 

 it was known to Pliny in the first century. Its uses were described 

 as so various that it is supposed all the varieties of sorghum were 

 confounded by these different authors. It was recommended as 

 fodder for stock, food for poultry and hogs, and for a syrup ; while 

 the Italians called it melica from its resemblance to honey. It was 

 described as having seeds, various in color, from rufous to black, 

 from white to yellow and red, and they were said to make an ex- 

 cellent bread. The bread had a pinkish tinge, being colored by 

 the husks, which could not be entirely separated from the seed. 

 Through the caravans of the Syrian desert, sorghum was carried 

 from Asia to Africa, and there, under the changes of climate, soil 

 and moisture, new varieties originated, and we have the imphee 

 canes. 



Linnaeus calls it holcus saccaratum, and the dhouro corn he calls 

 Jiolcus sorghum. But Persoon, and others since, have separated the 

 two, arid applied to the sugar cane the general name sorghum, and 

 its specific name nigrum from the color of its seeds. These plants 

 are all called sorghum in the East Indies. 



