Introductory. 



About 1872 the attention of the country was again directed to Sorghum, 

 through the introduction of new varieties, particularly the Early Amber, and 

 a new impetus was given to the industry. From then on until 1882 the 

 attention of the country was once more fixed on Sorghum. Great and 

 extravagant hopes were excited in regard to the production of sugar. The 

 Agricultural Department took it up, and, by its general deductions from 

 insufficient data, enkindled an enthusiasm that amounted to a craze. It 

 seemed as if all the scientific visionaries and enthusiasts of the country had 

 started out preaching the new gospel. Not content with sugar from Sorghum, 

 it was to be produced from corn, so as to defy competition from the world. 

 In vain did the true friends of Sorghum call a halt, and point out the wildness 

 of the theories promulgated, and the entire failure which must result. The 

 craze went on and a vast amount of money was lost and many planters 

 ruined. 



Sorghum received at the hands of its injudicious friends, the scientific 



enthusiasts (and we must not overlook the cheats, who, for gain, played on 



popular credulity), a blow that threatened its destruction. Its present 



recovery and revival on a strong, sure footing, but illustrates the intrinsic 



■ value of the plant, since it rises above all its misfortunes. 



The outlook for Sorghum was never really so promising as now. The 

 enthusiasts and visionaries, who nearly ruine.d it by exciting false and 

 ungrounded hopes, and the parasites who aimed to make their fortunes out 

 of the great expectations excited have been silenced and repudiated. 



Whilst the hope of making sugar from Sorghum profitably has not been 

 abandoned, the reasonable expectation of cane growers is now to supply the 

 domestic market with syrup, and to establish prices in the general market 

 on a paying basis that will use up all of the surplus. More reasonable 

 confidence is being shown now by cane growers in the future of Sorghum 

 than ever before, as is evidenced in the large addition made yearly to 

 the number of plants of good machinery throughout the whole country. 

 Sorghum fortunately is now out of reach of impractical theorists and hum- 

 bugs, and is receiving the attention it deserves from the practical intelligence 

 of cane growers. 



Figuratively speaking, although nearly choked to death by the weeds. 

 Sorghum is now far enough along to get the better of them, and is able to 

 take care of itself. 



The value of the plant for fodder is again coming-into prominence, and 

 it is beginning to be realized by many that, all things considered, there is no 

 crop that the farmer can grow that will yield him a better return. Now 

 that it is understood that syrup, to find a market, must be good, and that 

 the plant has great value for fodder, we may expect that Sorghum will 

 become one of the great staples of the country, and for the future will 

 experience no more vicissitudes than all others of the great crops are 

 liable to. 



