121 



The ripeness of the seeds does not appear much to lessen the'pf eduction of sugar, at 

 least in the climate nr,ar Paris, but in other countries where it matures when the 

 weather is still warm the effect may be different. According to the report of M. de 

 lira 1 1 regard, addressed to tho " Cornice de Toulon," the ripening of the sorgho in that 

 latitude had no unfavorable effect: and he considers tho seeds and tho sugar as two 

 products to bo conjointly obtained. On the other hand, Mr. Wray says the Zulu- 

 Kaffirs are in tho habit of pulling off the panicles of the plant the moment they ap- 

 pear, in order to augment the quantity of saccharine matter in the stalks. 



Mr. Leonard Wray 1 makes the same statement. In the direction for 

 making sugar from sorghum printed in " The Working Farmer," and 

 quoted in the book of Mr. Stansbury, 2 occurs the following sentence : 



When the grower intends to make sugar, he should pinch off the seed heads before 

 they are fully formed, or indeed as soon as they appear, thus causing the plant to 

 give a larger yield of stronger juice. 



In 1882 and 1883 experiments were made by Prof. H. A. Weber and 

 Prof. M. A. Scovell, at Champaign, 111., to determine the effect of the 

 removal of the seed heads. Following is Professor Weber's report : 3 



The first experiment in topping cane was made in the season of 1882. It was sug- 

 gested by the theory that the starch, which forms about 63 per cent, of the weight of 

 the seed, could, by removing the top in time, be retained in the stalk in the form of 

 c.ane sugar. The experiments in this direction fully proved the correctness of this 

 theory. In the first experiment a portion of the heads was removed from a plat of 

 Amber cane soon after they made their appearance and before there was any visible 

 formation of seed. When the remaining cane had reached tho hard-dough stage 

 comparative analyses were made, with the following results : 



In the season of 1883 two more experiments were made in this direction. In the 

 first one, a field of Kansas orange cane was chosen. Two rows lying side by side and 

 of uniform growth were selected. One was topped as soon as the heads appeared. 

 The first comparative analyses were made on September 19, when the upper half of 

 the seed heads was in the hardening dough. Tho results are as follows: 



Two more comparative analyses of tho same rows wore made on October 2, affor 

 tin- seed was fully ripe. 



1 Agricultural KVpnrl 1S>1, p. 222. 



2 Stansbury, diiin-si'Sugar-Cano, p. 35. 



3 Departmeut of Agriculture, Division of Chemistry, Bull. No. .">, pp. 145,146. 



