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98 



THE ILLINOIS FAliMEii 



April 



summer prosper us and the autumn 

 crown us witlidue reward. 



Culture and Varieties of Sorgo- 

 Sorgo has been introduced into tliis 

 country over ten yours, and yet the 

 best mode of phmting and culture has 

 not been reached, nor has it been deci- 

 ded to the general satisfaction what va- 

 rieties are of the most value. 



In giving our views on the subject, 

 the reader will bear in mind that it is 

 from an imperfect stand-point that they 

 are taken. This is not to be wondered 

 at, for after more than two hundred 

 years' experience in corn culture in this 

 country the subject is not fully master- 

 ed, and further improvements are antic- 

 ipated. It has taken twenty years to 

 educate the farmers on the prairie in 

 the true system of growing spring 

 wheat, and even now only the advanc- 

 ed classes fully grasp the idea. 



Flax has been grown time out of 

 mind, and yet the enquiry comes from 

 all quarters for the best mode of culture 

 and time of sowing. Under such a con- 

 dition of things we may well be ex- 

 cused from giving any dogmatic form- 

 ula in regard to the culture of sorgo, 

 or the best varieties to be planted. — 

 That ten years' experience has laid 

 down and established some facts, all 

 niHst concede, and to these it is the duty 

 of the cultivator to turn his attention, 

 and to be guided in his operations, if 

 he would be successful. 



It is evident that sorgo must occu- 

 py no small space among the staple 

 crops of the industrious North. Thus 

 far it has proved its ability to make an 

 excellent sirup for the table, when re- 

 fined, and in its raw state, equal to 

 Louisiana plantation for cooking purpo- 

 ses, while many people are sanguine 



that it will prove a profitable sugar 

 making plant. Though of this we re- 

 ally know little as yet, as most of the 

 statements made in regard to it have 

 been more for the purpose of selling 

 some particular kind of seed at a high 

 price, rather than to report a veritable 

 fact. That sugar can be made from this 

 cane, has been demonstrated in a small 

 way, but the reported tons of it have 

 never appeared in the market, and the 

 most charitable conclusion to be arrived 

 at, is that it has been used up in the 

 family. The chemists have not concur- 

 red in its value, or fully agreed in re- 

 gard to its sugar making elements. The 

 close relationship between sugar, gum 

 and starch, baffles the chemist's art, and 

 we are left for real facts to what nature 

 may yet demonstrate, rather than to 

 the labratory. 



"What we know in regard to its sac- 

 charine properties, is that it makes a 

 valuable sirup, and we have yet to 

 learn in regard to its value for sugar, 

 for it is safe to say that, thus far, we 

 have no practical method by which to 

 reduce the sirup to sugar, notwithstand- 

 ing we have numerous patents for the 

 purpose, and advertising statements 

 innumerable. It may, therefore, be 

 safely challenged, that out of the tons 

 of sugar claimed to have been made, 

 not a single barrel has ever been 

 put upon the market. If we are mis- 

 taken in this we trust that some gener- 

 ous-minded citizen will put us right. — 

 We are a little nervous on this point, 

 from the fact that several thousand dol- 

 lars was paid for seed last year, that 

 was supposed to possess in a high de- 

 gree this sugar making quality. 



Under the name ol sorgo, we have 

 the Chinese sugar cane and the African 

 Imphee. The former is uniform in its 



