43 



rose. It seems to me that a few years of careful selection may secure a similar im- 

 provement in sorghum. 



It would be a long step toward the solution of the problem to secure a sorghum that 

 would average, field with field, 12 percent, sucrose and only 2 per cent, of other sugars, 

 and with such cane the great difficulty would be to make sirup and not sugar. Those 

 varieties and individuals of each variety of cane which show the best analytical re- 

 sults should be carefully selected for seed, and this selection continued until acciden- 

 tal variations become hereditary qualities in harmony with the well-known principles 

 of descent. 



If these experiments in selection could be made in diiferent parts of the country, and 

 especially by the various agricultural stations and colleges, they would have addi- 

 tional value and force. In a country whose soil and climate are as diversified as in 

 this, results obtained in one locality are not always reliable for another. 



If some unity of action could in this way be established among those engaged in 

 agricultural research, much time and labor would be saved and more valuable results 

 be obtained. 



In Bulletin No. 5, pp. 185-6-7, are found the following conclusions : 



A careful study of the foregoing data will not fail to convince every candid investi- 

 gator that the manufacture of sugar from sorghum has not yet proved financially suc- 

 sessful. 



The men who have put their money in these enterprises seem likely to lose it, and 

 intending investors will carefully consider the facts herein set forth before making 

 final arrangements. The expectations of the earlier advocates of the industry have 

 not been met, and the predictions of enthusiastic prophets have not been verified. It 

 would be unwise and unjust to conceal the facts that the future of the sorghum-sugar 

 industry is somewhat doubtful. The unsatisfactory condition is due to many causes. 

 In the first place, the difficulties inherent in the plant itself have been constantly 

 undervalued. The success of the industry has been based on the belief of the pro- 

 duction of sorghum with high percentages of sucrose and small amount of reducing 

 sugar and other impurities. 



But the universal experience of practical manufacturers shows that the average 

 constitution of the sorghum-cane is far inferior to that just indicated. Taking the 

 mean of several seasons as a sure basis of computation, it can now be said that the 

 juices of sorghum as they come from the mill do not contain over 10 per cent, of su- 

 crose, while the percentage of other solids in solution is at least 4. 



It is needless to say to a practical sugar-maker that the working of such a juice is 

 one of extreme difficulty, and the output of sugar necessarily small. 



The working of sorghum juices will be found as difficult as those of beets, and true 

 success cannot be hoped for until the processes used for the one are as complete and 

 scientific as for the other. It is not meant by this that the processes and machinery 

 are to IK- identical. 



The chemical as well as mechanical treatment of the two kinds of juice will doubt- 

 less diner in many respects. And this leads to the consideration of the third diffi- 

 culty, vix, the chemical treatment of sorghum juice. It has taken nearly three-quar- 

 ters of a century to develop the chemistry of the beet-sugar process, and even now 

 the progress in this direction is great. The chemistry of the sorghum-sugar process 

 is scarcely yet a science. It is only an imitation of what has been done in other 

 fields of work. Sorghum will have to develop a chemistry of its own. This will not 

 In- the work of a day or a year, but it will be accomplished sooner or later. 



Careful study of climate and soil, joined with experience, will gradually locate 

 tlmsr areas most favorable to the growth of this plant and its manufacture. 



This is an all-important point in the problem, and is now occupying seriously the 

 attention of the thoughtful advocates of the sorghum-sugar industry. One thing is 

 already clear, /. ., that the area of successful sorghum culture is not nearly so ex- 

 tensive as it was thought to be a few years ago. I would urge a further investiga- 



