PART I. 



. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH SORGHUM AT FORT SCOTT. 



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAI,. 



FORT SCOTT, KANS., November 9, 1887. 



SIR: I herewith submit my report of the experiments in the manu- 

 facture of sugar from sorghum cane, conducted at Fort Scott, Kans., 

 during the present year. 



I beg to acknowledge my appreciation of the hearty support that you 

 have accorded me while in charge of this work. 

 Very respectfully, 



MAGNUS SWENSON. 

 Hon. NORMAN J. COLMAN, 



Commissioner of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



REPORT OF 31. SWENSON. 



Previous to my appointment to take charge of the experiments in the 

 manufacture of sugar from sorghum cane at Fort Scott, Kans., all at- 

 tempts to make sugar from this source in paying quantities had failed. 

 This was due to many difficulties, of both a mechanical and a chemical 

 nature, in the manipulation of the cane and juice. The most important 

 problems to be solved were the proper cutting and cleaning of the cane, 

 the prevention of inversion of cane sugar in the diffusion battery, and to 

 find a cheap and effective method for treating the diffusion juice. 



PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTS. 



As soon as the earliest of the amber cane approached ripeness a large 

 number of preliminary experiments were made in defecation and filtra- 

 tion of juices. The experiments in filtration were made with a small 

 filter press with a hand pump. The cloth used was the same as that 

 used in the large presses, and every precaution was taken to make the 

 results just as valuable as if made on a larger scale. These experiments 

 were begun on July 29. The filtering materials used were finely pow- 



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