SUGAR. 



219 



obtained within the year. This plant can in many localities be 

 advantageously utilized for preparing treacle. For this purpose the 

 sap is expressed at the time of flowering and simply evaporated ; the 

 yield is about 100 gallons from the acre. 



Since 1855 its cultivation has steadily increased in many countries. 

 It is grown in France and Algeria for alcohol chiefly, in Italy for its 

 syrup in wine making. 



In the North-western States of America where it flourishes, there 

 were in 1864, 366,670 acres under sorghum, and sorghum sugar was 

 selling at Chicago at 4:^d. per lb. In 1860 nearly seven millions of 

 gallons of sorghum treacle were produced in the United States. This 

 had increased in 1870 to 16,050,089 gallons, and 24 hogsheads of 

 sorghum sugar were made. 



In the state of Kansas there were 23,026 acres under sorghum in 

 1875. The produce was 2,542,512 gallons of syrup. 



Sorghum is cultivated to a considerable extent in the Ohio belt of 

 counties, Western Virginia. It is used entirely for the manufacture 

 of molasses for home consumption, where the locality has been more 

 or less denuded of its maple trees. Most persons prefer the syrup 

 prepared from the maple to the molasses from sorghum, as the latter 

 has too commonly from imperfect ripening an acid taste. This cane 

 succeeds well, and in good soil, when well matured, yields from 200 

 to 300 gallons per acre. The total production for the state of West 

 Virginia was given in 1876 at 780,829 gallons.* 



The chief merit of the sorghum is, however, as a forage plant, and 

 its value for feeding stock cannot be surpassed by any other crop, 

 since a greater amount of nutritious fodder can be obtained by it in 

 a shorter time, within a given space, and more cheaply. It cannot 

 be propagated by cuttings like the cane, but ratoons when the stems 

 are cut down. 



Those interested in the culture of this plant will find a good 

 practical and chemical description in a work by Mr. F. L. Stewart, 

 of Philadelphia, 'Sorghum and its Products,' 1867. In the 'Indian 

 Agriculturist ' of Calcutta, vol. i. p. 222 (1876) there is an ac- 

 count of its value as a forage plant ; and further useful details will 

 be found in the ' Bulletin of the Society of Acclimatization,' Paris, 

 vols. iii. V. vi. and vii. 



* ' Eesources of West Virginia,' by Professor Maury, 1876. 



