HOLCUS. 



ent quantity of milk, and a small piece of 

 butter, until the beverage Assumes a cho- 

 colate colour, which it receives from the 

 colouring matter of the husks. The liquor 

 should be then strained through gauze, 

 sweetened till palatable, and brought to 

 table for use. I have drank it thus made, 

 except that it was unstrained ; and though 

 I could perceive no taste resembling cho- 

 colate, yet it was a beverage quite sa- 

 voury and pleasant. 



To make four pints of a pleasant, nutri- 

 tious, and, I presume, a wholesome bever- 

 age, to serve as an economical article of 

 diet, in lieu of chocolate, tea, or coffee, 

 the expense may be calculated as follows, 

 yiz. cents. 



For 4oz. of the chocolate-mibl (or flour 

 made from the seed of the 

 Holcus bicolor, at Sets, perlb.) 1 

 2i ditto of sugar, at 16cts. perlb. 2 

 1 ditto of butter, at 20 cts. per Ib. l| 



1 pint of milk, at 3 



3 pints of water 



8 



The proportions of the several articles 

 here mentioned are to be boiled together, 

 and in such quantities as may be required. 

 When sufficiently boiled, and just before 

 it is taken from the fire, the butter is to 

 be well stirred up with the boiling li- 

 quor it is then fit for use. The propor- 

 tions of the materials may be varied, so 

 as to suit different palates ; but the above 

 are agreeable to the directions given to 

 Mr. William Barton, by the person who 

 furnished him with the seed." In mak- 

 in the experiment with the Holcus in my 

 family," says Mr. Barton; "the seed 

 were ground in a common coffee-mill ; 

 but as they could not be ground fine 

 enough in this way, nor their/anna be 

 sufficiently disengaged from its integu- 

 ment or husk, too much of a coarse bran 

 was deposited in the liquor, after boiling. 

 The kind of grinding performed by the 

 trituration of mill-stones would make a 

 better meal ; and I should mach prefer 

 bolting it, after being ground in a proper 

 corn-mill, to straining the liquor when 

 boiled, in order to separate the coarsest 

 ef the bran from the farina of the seed." 

 The plant in question resembles com- 

 mon broom corn very much, it is eight or 

 ten feet in height is an annual, of rapid 

 growth and requires no particular care 

 in its cultivation. The leaves are long, 

 channelled, nerved, and sheathing the 

 stem. The fruit, and, of course, the in- 

 florescence, which I have not seen, is 

 borne in a terminal, close and compact 

 panicle, of an oblong-ovate form ; in this 



respect differing widely from sorghum 

 saccharatum, or common broom, the pan- 

 nicle of which is diffuse and spreading. 

 It differs also from the broom in the co- 

 lour of the husks, they being in the cho- 

 colate broom (for so I shall call the plant in 

 ration in want of a 'better name) of a 

 p shining black colour, and glabrous ; 

 and in the common broom of a reddish- 

 brown hue, and pubescent, sometimes 

 even hairy. The seeds are white, round- 

 ish, and hard, enclosed in shining black 

 husks. 



Holcus bicolor is a native of Persia. It is 

 unqestionably not a native of any part of 

 the United States, or even of North Ame- 

 rica ; though Prush says, that sorghum 

 saccharatum, which is nearly allied to it, is 

 sometimes found wild in our country. 



This plant thrives perfectly well in 

 Lancaster county; and will, probably, 

 grow equally well in most parts of the 

 United States. I conjecture, from its ap. 

 pearance, that, when mature, a single 

 stalk will yield about a pint of seed. I 

 will attempt an estimate, then, of the 

 quantity of seed that may be procured 

 from one acre of ground, planted with 

 the Holcus,- by which it will appear, that 

 it is not an unprofitable product. 



Supposing an acre planted in rows or 

 lines, three feet apart, so as to produce 

 one stalk only in a hill, and at the same 

 distance from one another, along each 

 row ; the number of plants will, in this 

 case, be 4840 : and calculating that each 

 plant will yield a pint of seed, the product 

 of an acre will be 75J. bushels. 1 have 

 no means of ascertaining, just now, what 

 quantity of meal (or flour) could be made 

 from a bushel of seed, on separating the 

 farinaceous parts from the rest, by grind' 

 ing and bolting in the common mode : 

 but I will suppose, that not less than 151bs. 

 of meal, sufficiently bolted from the bran, 

 would be obtained, clear of the toll, 

 from a bushel of the seed. At this rate, 

 an acre would yield 1134|lbs.of the flour 

 or meal, which, if valued at only 5 cents 

 per Ib. would produce Jg56.72. There 

 can be little doubt that the trouble and 

 expense of cultivating an acre of the Hoi. 

 cus would be amply compensated by the 

 value of the plant as fodder for cattle, 

 when stripped of its seed, dried, and 

 housed; and, perhaps, some useful vege- 

 table might, besides, be planted or sown 

 between the rows. The net profit, there- 

 fore, of cultivating this plant would be 

 not less than $56.72 per acre. 



The seeds which produced the speci- 

 mens, now before the society, were pro- 



