78 



SCIENCE. 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 



Procress. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



Published at 



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P. O. Box 3838. 



SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 1880. 



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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



At a time when the English Government appears to 

 be awakening to the necessity of systematically bring- 

 ing the light of science to bear on the various impor- 

 tant agricultural problems which are continually 

 forced upon public notice, it is an agreeable task to 

 examine the reports of the Department of Agriculture 

 at Washington, and to note the practical usefulness of 

 the work there taken in hand, and the thoroughness 

 with which it is performed. 



The recent reports refer to one of the most import- 

 ant successes of this Department, that of obtaining 

 crystalizable sugar from maize plants, which may be 

 grown in most sections of the United States. Con- 

 gress at once appreciated the value of this discovery 

 and directed the Commissioner of Agriculture to fur- 

 nish a report giving all the information in his power in 

 regard to the manufacture of sugar from sorghum, its 

 cost, the character and expense of the machinery neces- 



sary, together with statistics of the consumption and 

 production of sugar in the United States and all matters 

 bearing on the subject. 



In the reply, which was made seriatim, we learn that 

 the Department has thirty-two varieties of sugar 

 producing sorghums and millet plants, all more or less 

 valuable, according to the varying soils, climate, culti- 

 vation, seasons and process of manufacture. From 

 these they have selected four, which in their opinion 

 are best adapted to the ends in view. The most useful 

 of these is the Minnesota Early Amber, the juice of which 

 is said to granulate more readily than other varieties. It 

 ripens early, yields bountifully an excellent quality of 

 syrup, and the farmers who have raised this variety of 

 cane record their experiences as showing it to be better 

 than any other variety. The Department of Agricul- 

 ture commends it for use in the Northern part of the 

 United States in latitudes above Chicago. 



Below this latitude the White Liberian Cane may be 

 planted as auxiliary to the Early Amber, while in the 

 latitudes of St. Louis and the region south of it, 

 Honduras Cane should be added to the other two 

 varieties, thus extending the season for working the 

 cane many weeks beyond the period that could be 

 utilized, if but one variety were planted. The Chinese 

 Sorgo Cane ripens about two weeks after the Early 

 Amber. 



As the methods employed in making sugar from 

 these plants have been already described, we need only 

 add that experiments by the chemist of the Depart- 

 ment during the last two years have demonstrated that 

 there is practically little if any difference in the juice 

 of the several varieties ; that they all produce sugar 

 which can be easily granulated, if the cane be taken at 

 the proper season of growth, and that the only impor- 

 tant question yet to be determined is as to the variety 

 that will yield the largest amount in a given soil and 

 climate. 



We understand that only " a fair measure of 

 success " has attended the manufacture of sugar, in the 

 manner now under description, by farmers on a small 

 scale, and we cannot too strongly endorse the 

 sensible advice which has been tendered, that farmers 

 should merely convert the juice of the stalks into a 

 syrup, and that large central mills be established where 

 the syrup may be converted by proper vacuum pans 

 and centrifugals. 



These central mills would have the same relation to 

 this industry that the grist mills of a neighborhood 

 bear to wheat and corn. 



The making of sugar entails a process requiring 

 considerable practice and experience, and we are not 

 surprised to find that farmers find many difficulties in 

 the way of success, and it will certainly pay them 

 better to sell the syrup, to be converted under the 

 direction of experts. We understand that in the 

 Western States a gallon of dense syrup weighing, say 

 13 pounds, can be produced for i6§ cents (possibly 

 less). This, if properly managed, should yield 6 to 8 

 pounds of sugar, and, if handled by the centrifugal, 

 may be separated at a fraction of one cent per pound. 



If this method of co-operation is carried out, we 

 see no reason why the 2,000,000,000 pounds of sugar 

 annually used in the United States should not be 

 grown and manufactured within its boundaries and by 

 native industry. 



