Sorghum Hand Book. 



In 1854 the agent of the United States Patent Office, who had visited 

 Europe for the purpose of procuring seeds for the Agricultural Department, 

 returned to this country, bringing with him a quantity of Sorghum seed. 

 This seed was distributed by the Patent Office to various parties in the North 

 and South, and during the following year it was planted and then cultivated 

 and made into syrup and sugar. Reports were made to agricultural societies 

 demonstrating its value, a general interest was created in the plant, and thus 

 it obtained its foothold in the United States. 



SORGHUM FOR FORAGE. 



From the earhest period of the world's history, the different varieties of 

 Sorghum have been used as food' for man and beast. It is nowthe principal 

 grain food in Africa, in large sections of Asia, and is largely cultivated in 

 Southern Europe. The seed is made into bread and mush for man, and the 

 seed and leaves used for forage for horses, mules and cattle. In the United 

 States, on account of the special attention given to the plant as a producer 

 of syrup and sugar, its other merits have been overlooked or underestimated. 

 Whilst here, for the most part, it is grown, only for syrup or sugar, fully 

 nine-tenths of the Sorghum cultivated in the world is for the seed and the 

 leaves for food and forage. 



Chemical analysis has demonstrated that the chemical composition of 

 Sorghum seed is substantially the same as that of corn, and experience has 

 fully shown that for feeding and fattening purposes Sorghum is fully the 

 equal of corn, and may be substituted for it. It is also established that the 

 amount of Sorghum seed that an acre will produce equals in quantity the 

 corn that may be made from the same land. The seed and leaves then will 

 alone well pay for the cultivation of Sorghum ; and as the time for cutting 

 cane for syrup allows the seed to come to sufficient maturity, the planter may 

 have the stalks for syrup free of cost. When the value of Sorghum is fully 

 realized in its relation to food and forage, it will be much more widely planted 

 than now in this country, the greater part of which is so well adapted to its 

 successful cultivation. 



SORGHUM FOR SYRUP. 



Sorghum has been cultivated in the United States chiefly for syrup and 

 sugar. In many sections of the country the domestic consumption of syrup 

 is almost wholly confined to Sorghum, and there is no state or territory, with 

 the exception of New England, in which Sorghum syrup does not form an 

 important product. 



It is beginning to be understood that a market can readily be found at 

 home for s. good sx'acS.t. of syrup, and as none else is wanted, its manufacture 

 is gradually coming into the hands of those who are willing to give the 

 requisite care to the selection of seed, the culture of the cane, and who have 

 the apparatus needed to produce good results. 



