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ister of war, and also Mr. Buchanan, who was minister in 

 England at that time. He afterwards cultivated it in the 

 West Indies, Brazil, the Mauritius, Australia, Turkey, 

 Egypt and in this country. 



The Kaffirs cultivated sixteen varieties that differed in 

 the amount of saccharine principle, as well as in the time 

 required to mature. In 1856 Mr. Wray exhibited sugar, 

 molasses, alcohol, plants and seeds of the imphee at the 

 Paris Exposition, and not only obtained a silver medal, but 

 a grant of twenty-five hundred acres of land in Algiers 

 was made him by the French government, that he might 

 prosecute his researches. During this same year, Orange 

 Judd, of New York, distributed 25,000 packages of seed 

 to his subscribers, spreading them throughout the country. 

 In 1857, Mr. Wray brought to the United States the seeds 

 of se/eral varieties of imphee. So then, when Mr. Browne 

 obtained the seeds it was really in its initial state of cultiva- 

 tion in France. It had been 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 'lay had repressed any advancement in science and arts, 

 as well as in agriculture. 



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

 under the name of millium 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 sorghi. In 1552, Fragus says, 

 in a work on botany, a panicum plinii was cultivated in 

 Germany, and accurately describes this plant. In 1591 

 Gosner names this same plant sorghum. In Itaiy in 1595, 

 in his commentaries on Dioscorides, Matthioli calls it indi- 



