FIRST YEARS IN AMERICA 19 



chemical and an economic standpoint this elaborate 

 research is one of the most valuable made in America 

 respecting our knowledge of the plant and its products, 

 its potentialities as a source of sugar, its method of 

 culture, and the preparation of sugar and syrup from 

 its juice. It was his opinion at the time that, pro- 

 vided the percentage of sugar in the sorghum could 

 be increased in the same ratio as in the beet root, its 

 successful cultivation would become an accomplished 

 fact, and our farmers would be able to compete profit- 

 ably with the planters of the West Indies. 



In February 1862, he read a paper of great impor- 

 tance and interest before the New York State Agricul- 

 tural Society, on the nature of Sorghum saccharatum, 

 discussing at length the history of the plant, its chem- 

 ical characters, the determination of the quality and 

 quantity of sugar, and its value for agricultural and 

 industrial purposes. Some four years earlier he had 

 sent this exhaustive monograph to Wohler, who gave 

 it to Henneberg, and it was published in the Journal 

 fur Landwirthschaft. Returning to this subject ten 

 years later, Goessmann says: *I stated the results of a 

 chemical investigation carried out by me in 1857, con- 

 cerning the fitness of the sorghum cane for the manu- 

 facture of sugar and of superior syrups. These state- 

 ments have been confirmed, as far as its yield of good 

 quality of syrup is concerned; but the manufacture of 

 sugar has not been tried to any extent, although there 

 is no substantial reason why within some of the South- 

 ern States, with their favourable climate, a part of its 

 sugar might not be advantageously secured in crystals. 



