EEPORT OF E. B. COWGILL. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



The sorghum plant was introduced into the United States in 1853-'54 

 by the Patent Office, which then embraced all there was of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. Its juice was known to be sweet, 

 and chemists were not long in discovering that it contained a consider- 

 able percentage of some substance giving the reactions of cane sugar. 

 The opinion that the reactions were due to cane sugar received repeated 

 confirmations in the formation of true cane-sugar crystals in sirups made 

 from sorghum. Yet the small amounts that were crystallized, compared 

 with the amounts present in the juices as shown by the analyses, led 

 many to believe that the reactions were largely due to some other sub- 

 stance than cane sugar. 



EARLY INVESTIGATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF 



AGRICULTURE. 



During the years 1878 to 1882, inclusive, while Dr. Peter Collier was 

 chief chemist of the Department of Agriculture, much attention was 

 given to the study of sorghum juices from canes cultivated in the gar- 

 dens of the Department, at Washington. Dr. Collier became an en- 

 thusiastic believer in the future greatness of sorghum as a sugar-pro- 

 ducing plant, and the extensive series of analyses published by him 

 attracted much attention from sugar-makers in the South, and students 

 of the chemistry of sugar throughout the country. 



SUGAR FACTORIES ERECTED IN KANSAS. 



Stimulated by the analytical results published by Dr. Collier, inter- 

 ested parties erected large sugar factories and provided them with costly 

 appliances. Hon. John Beuuyworth erected one of these at Larned, in 

 this State. S. A. Liebold & Co. subsequently erected one at Great Bend. 

 Both of these factories made some sugar, both lost money, and both quit 

 the business. 



Sterling and Hutchinson followed with factories which made con- 

 siderable amounts of merchantable sugar at no profit. 



The factory at Sterling was erected by R! M. Sandys & Co., of New 

 Orleans, who sought, by combining Mr. Sandys' thorough knowledge of 



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