22 



sugar with the best practical skill of the South, to establish the sorghum- 

 sugar industry on a proper basis. For two seasons this combination 

 worked faithfully, and while the sirup produced paid the expenses of 

 the factory, not a crystal of sugar was made. The factory then in 1883 

 changed hands, and passed under the superintendency of Prof. M. A. 

 Scovelljthen of Champaign, 111., who, with Professor Weber, had worked 

 out, in the laboratories of the Illinois Industrial University, a practical 

 method for obtaining sugar from sorghum in quantities which at prices 

 then prevalent would pay a profit on the business. But prices declined, 

 and after making sugar for two years in succession the Sterling factory 

 succumbed. 



The Hutchinson factory at first made no sugar, but subsequently 

 passed under the management of Prof. M. Swenson, who had success- 

 fully made sugar in the laboratory of the University of Wisconsin. Large 

 amounts of sugar were made at a loss, and the Hutchinsou factory closed 

 its doors. In 1884 Hon. W. L. Parkinson fitted up a complete sugar 

 factory at Ottawa, and for two years made sugar at a loss. Mr. Parkin- 

 son was assisted during the first year by Dr. Wilcox, and during the 

 second year by Professor Swenson. 



INFORMATION GAINED. 



Much valuable information was developed by the experience in these 

 several factories, but the most important of all was the fact that, with 

 the best crushers, the average extraction did not exceed half of the 

 sugar contained in the cane. It was known to scientists and well-in- 

 formed sugar-makers in this country that the process of diffusion was 

 theoretically efficient for the extraction of sugar from plant cells, and 

 that it had been successfully applied by the beet-sugar-makers of Europe 

 for this purpose. 



FURTHER WORK OF THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



In 1883, Prof. H. W. Wiley, chief chemist of the Department of Agri- 

 culture, made an exhaustive series of practical experiments in the lab- 

 oratories of the Department on the extraction of the sugars from sorghum 

 by the diffusion process. His report sums up the results of his experi- 

 ments as follows : 



(1) The extraction of at least 85 per cent, of the total sugars present was secured. 

 In many of the experiments, as will be seen by consulting the table, scarcely a trace 

 of sugar could be detected in the exhausted chips. 



(2) The production of a quantity of melada represented by from 10.9 to 12.28 per 

 cent, of the weight of the cane diffused. 



This was secured with a cane in which the total sugars did not exceed 11.68 per 

 cent. The percentage of melada by this process will be found just about equal to the 

 per cent, of total sugars in the cane. 



It ought to be greater with a more perfect extraction, but I am speaking only of 

 results actually obtained. 



This yield is just about double that obtained by the large factories at Rio Grande, 

 Champaign, and other places. 



