51 



product ot agriculture and manufacture mi our own soil more than six 

 times us much per acre as is usually realized from either of these stand- 

 ard crops. 



LENGTH OF THE SEASON FOR WORKING SORGHUM. 



The seasou for harvesting sorghum is limited to the months during 

 which it may be worked. At present, this dates in our southern coun- 

 ties from about the last of July to the middle or last of October, if a 

 proper selection of varieties of cane has been made. Without doubt 

 this season may, and will be, lengthened. On this point I can do no 

 better than quote from my report to this Department in 1884: 



As shown by the reports of the sugar factories of Kansas for the last two years, the 

 working season is confined almost exclusively to the mouths of September and Octo- 

 ber. When the great cost of sugar- works, the expense of keeping them in repair, and 

 the salaries of the specialists, are considered, the importance of lengthening the work-' 

 ing seasou becomes painfully apparent. That a $100,000 factory should lie idle for 

 ten months every year, implies that it must bo run at an enormous profit during the 

 two months or fail to pay interest on the iu vestment. 



Several plans have been proposed for extending the time during which the works 

 may run. One of these is the development of earlier varieties of cane by systematic 

 selection of seed, cultivation, and breeding. The researches of modern physiological 

 botanists give reason to hope for good results in this direction. 



Another plan proposed is to reduce the juice to a semi-sirup in small auxiliary fac- 

 tories, store the semi-sirup, and make it into sugar during the winter mouths. This 

 has much to commend it. 



STORING CANES IN SILOS. 



Experiments have been made repeatedly in keeping canes in sheds, but with indif- 

 ferent success. A good deal has been done in the line of preserving green forage crops 

 in pits, and expensive silos have been made and used. Sorghum has been laid away 

 and kept in these with fair success. 



A practical plan for keeping cane by simply covering it with a few inches of soil 

 has been, used in three experiments now on record. The first of these was made at 

 Tilsonburg, Ontario, in 1831-'8.2, by Mr. Frank Stroback, now of Sterling, Kaus. Mr. 

 Stroback has kindly handed me a copy of his record, which is given below, with the 

 addition of the column giving the density of tlie juice in degrees Baumd, to render 

 these results more easily comparable with the other analyses given in this paper. 



Frank Stroback's experiment in keeping cane in silo. 



The cane used in this experiment was the early amber. The juice showed a de- 

 preciation, but the results were encouraging. 



In the fall of 18S:}, Professor Wiley, chief chemist of the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture, placed a ton of early amber in a shallow pit, and placed over it a covering of 

 earth on the grounds of the Department of Agriculture at Washington. In his report 



