89 



(2) That frost, or even hard freezing, doosnot injure the juice nor the sugar, bat that 

 warm Indian summer weather, after the frost and hard freezing, does injure them 

 very materially, and reduces both quantity and quality. 



(3) That if the cane is cut and housed, or shocked in the field when in its most favor- 

 able condition, it will probably keep unchanged for a long time. 



(4) That when the juice is obtained the process should proceed continuously and 

 without delay. 



(f>) That the clarification should be as perfect as possible by the time the density 

 reached 15 Baumd, the sirup having the appearance of good brandy. 



(6) That although eggs were used in these small experiments, on account of their 

 convenience, bullock's blood, if to be had, is equally good, and the milk of lime alone 

 will answer the purpose ; in the latter case, however, more constant and prolonged 

 skimming will be required to produce a perfect clarification, which is highly impor- 

 tant. 



(7) That the concentration or boiling down, after clarification, should be as rapid 

 as possible without scorching, shallow evaporators being the best. 



With these conditions secured, it is about as easy to make good sugar from the 

 Chinese cane as to make a pot of good mush, and much easier than to make a kettle 

 of good apple-butter. 



EXPERIMENT BY PROF. 0. A. GOESSMANN. 



In 1857 Professor Goessmann obtained from 1,440 grains of sorghum 

 juice, by two crystallizations and washing the crystals with alcohol, 120 

 grams of sugar. 1 Professor Goessmaim says : 2 



As I before mentioned, J. S. Lovering obtained in practice 7 to 8 per cent, of sugar 

 without estimating the amount left in the molasses. I found from 9 to 9J per cent, in 

 the juice; and Mr. Wray, an Englishman, who examined several species of sorghum 

 at Cape Natal, on the southeastern coast of Africa, found the percentage almost equal 

 to that of the real sugar cane, 18 per cent. I mention these facts to show what may 

 be expected when the sorghum shall have received the attention of our farmers and 

 have become acclimatized on a suitable soil. The transplantation of a plant to 

 anew and perhaps less congenial climate and soil invariably exerts at first an inju- 

 rious influence on the vital principle and its products. When the beet root was first 

 cultivated for the manufacture of sugar it contained only 7 to 8 per cent, of sugar, 

 but by the application of proper care to the cultivation and to selecting the best 

 specimens for seed the percentage was increased to from 11 to 12 in some species. 

 Should it be possible to increase the percentage of sugar in the sorghum in the same 

 ratio, its successful cultivation would become an accomplished fact; and our farmers, 

 aided by their superior skill, more perfect machinery, and many other advantages af- 

 forded by this country, would be able to compote successfully with the planters of the 

 West Indies. 



Between the dates of the experiments recorded above and 1878 hun- 

 dreds of successful attempts to manufacture sorghum sugar as a by 

 product of molasses were made in the United States. I say successful 

 in the sense that they demonstrated beyond any doubt the possibility 

 of making sugar, although they threw no light on either the scientific 

 or economic problems involved. I therefore omit any further discussion 

 of them here. 



Numerous experiments were made by Dr. Collier, chemist of the De- 



1 Sorghum Saccharatnm, republished from Transactions N. Y. State Agricultural 

 Society, 180 1, p. 21. 

 9 Op. cit,, pp. 26, 27, 



