AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 327 



3. From the sap of the Sorgho may be obtained several fer- 

 mented alcoholic drinks, such as brandy, rum, pure alcohol and 

 cider. Arequin of Louisiana, says the Sorgho Cognacs are greatly 

 inferior to the usual ones ; but this difference Prof. Henze says, is 

 distinctly and entirely due to imperfect methods of manufacture. 

 M. Vilmorin calculates the alcohol per acre at 180| gallons. 



4. The seed makes a good meal, which has been made into 

 cakes and pronounced by an acquaintance almost equal to buck- 

 wheat. The seeds are much relished by cattle, hogs, horses and 

 fowls. Sicard, a manufacturer of Marseilles, has successfully used 

 the hulls of the seeds for the production of a beautiful carmine, 

 for dyeing his linen and cotton goods. The JVational Intelligencer, 

 (Washington,) says that the sap if set with Oxide of tin, gives a 

 pink color to silken fabrics. 



After the seed has been removed from the tassels, the latter 

 may be made into brooms nearly as well as broom corn. 



The usual yield of seed per acre is about 25 bushels of 36 lbs. 

 eacli — in some eases it is more, in some less. 



The leading peculiarities of this new plant have been thus cur- 

 sorily glanced over, and we may now in conclusion say a few 

 words concerning its cultivation. 



One half acre was planted on the 19tli May last, in rows at 

 three feet apart and in hills at two and a half feet ai3art in the 

 rows. Ten seeds were. put in each hill and the sprouts subse- 

 quently thinned out to six. The soil was a shallow gravelly loam 

 resting upon a pure gravel sub- soil, and offered great resistance 

 to the introduction of the plow. Despite this fact, however, 1 

 have nowhere seen finer canes than our own, nor indeed as fine, 

 and we attribute our success to the free use of Mapes' superphos- 

 phates; for it is found by analysis that the Sorgho contains large 

 proportions of the phosphates of lime, soda and magnesia, sul- 

 phuric acid and organic matter. The extreme heat of last summer 

 by no means injured the vigor of growth of the Sorgho; on the 

 contrary, its first great luxuriance seemed coincident with the 

 beginning of our two months "heated term." We should recom- 

 mend those who purpose planting the Sorgho next season to plant 

 and cultivate it in like manner to corn, with the exception that 

 more seeds should be put in each hill at the time of planting. 

 The sprouts of Sorgho are so small and slow in growth that they 

 are easily mistaken for grass, and if planted too deeply the seed 



