INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



SIR : I submit herewith, for your inspection and approval, Bulletin 

 No. 18 of the Chemical Division. 



In Bulletin No. 17 it is stated that much of the analytical work per- 

 taining to the recent experiments in the manufacture of sugar was not 

 ready for incorporation in that report. This work is now finished and 

 tabulated and will be found in the following pages. 



In view of the fact that the experiments which have been conducted 

 for so long a time by the Department in the manufacture of sugar have 

 come to a successful end, I have thought it would be useful here to 

 collect together, in a condensed form, all the important recorded analyses 

 of sorghum which Ihave been able to find. Where series of such analyses 

 have been made, there are given only the means of the analyses, since 

 to reproduce them singly would extend the size of the bulletin to undue 

 proportions. For those, however, who may desire to study the analyses 

 more minutely, references are given to original publications contain- 

 ing them. I have also added to this part of the work an abstract of 

 recorded tonnage per acre for sorghum, yield of sugar per ton, and 

 other data which may help to assist any one interested in the matter 

 to an intelligent conclusion concerning the merits of sorghum as a 

 sugar-producing plant. 



In like manner I have epitomized the results of the analytical in- 

 vestigations which the Department has carried on for several years at 

 Magnolia Plantation, Lawrence, La. Intending investors in establish- 

 ments for manufacturing sugar should have access to a careful and 

 unbiassed statement of the data on which the industry rests, and in 

 the following pages an effort has been made to furnish this kind of in- 

 formation. 



Reports written under the influence of prospective personal profit, 

 or for pushing the claims of a patent, or to gratify personal pique or 

 ambition, are likely to become the argument of the advocate rather than 

 the charge of the non-partisan judge. 



The persistent and often malicious misrepresentation of the work 

 which has been done by the Department has not boon without its 

 baneful influence, although it has entirely failed of its chief purpose. 

 The large number of persons interested in the culture of sugar beets, 

 sorghum, and sugar cane recognize the value of the work which the 



3 



