47 



A ton of sorghum as it grows is composed of these three parts in 

 about the following average proportions : 



Topped and cleaned cane pounds.. 1,500 



Tops do 300 



Leaves and sheaths do 200 



Total .-. 2, 000 



The juice constitutes about 90 per cent, of the topped and cleaned 

 cane. Analytical estimates and the estimates of the sugar factory are 

 based on the ton of topped and cleaned cane. In order to place the 

 matter clearly before the reader, and at the same time to compare the 

 amount of sugar contained in Louisiana cane with that contained in 

 sorghum, and to make other studies of the subject, I have computed 

 from the analytical tables of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture the weights of " cane sugar," "grape sugar," and soluble solids 

 " not sugar," found to exist in the ton of topped and cleaned sorghum 

 for the years 1883-'87, and in the ton of cleaned Louisiana cane for 

 the years 18S4->86. 



" Cane sugar," "grape sugar," and soluble solids " not sugar" contained in a ton of cleaned 

 sorghum and cleaned Louisiana cane. 



[Computed from the analytical tables of the United States Department of Agriculture, the weight of 

 juice being assumed at 1,800 pounds per toil in either cane.] 



* No record. 



tThe writer made a series of analyses of canes grown near Sterling, Kans., in 1884, taking the juice 

 as it came from the crusher iu the regular course of manufacture. The mean of these from the first 

 mill gave 222 12 pounds of sugar per ton of cane. In his report of the crop of 1884 Dr. Wiley says the 

 lam 1 on which the cane analyzed by him and included in the above summary was grown had a top- 

 dressing of about 400 pounds of superphosphate per acre. 



IMPROVING THE SEED. 



The study of this table is most interesting. The first and most im- 

 portant observation is of the wide differences in the sorghum canes ex- 

 amined, there being a variation of 102.2 pounds of cane sugar per ton. 

 from 1883 to 1884. Every practical sugar-maker knows that the differ- 

 ence in the available sugar is greater than the actual difference shown 

 in these analyses. Again, the cane sugar contained in the sorghum of 

 exceeded that in the Louisiana cane of any year of the record, 



