NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



11 



determine the productiveness of the soil and character of the season. Analyses (uni- 

 formly carried on) should be made of the soil, fertilizers, and products. 



In the fall (or spring following), after the analyses are completed, the whole num- 

 ber of plats should be planted in wheat of a kind suitable to the locality. The yield 

 of wheat will be a measure of the comparative effects of the different products on the 

 fertility of the soil. 



Such a series of experiments carried on under uniform conditions over the whole 

 country would do more in five years to determine these great agricultural problems 

 than fifty years of spasmodic and disjointed work could accomplish. I have only 

 mentioned here the outlines of the future scope of the experiments in sugar culture, 

 experiments in which every part of the country will take a part and feel an interest. 

 If they become auth »rized by law, it will be easy to systematize and formulate all the 

 details of the operations to be carried on. 



IMPROVEMENT OF SEED. 



Much of the success of the beet-sugar industry of Europe has been due to a wise 

 selection and improvement of the seed, by which the sugar content of the beet, in 

 some instances, has been nearly doubled. There is no reason to doubt that a similar 

 improvement (but not, perhaps, to the same extent) could be made in northern cane. 



Such an improvement station could be established at small cost ; but, to be effective, 

 must be continued through a series of years. The seed of those canes showing the 

 highest sugar content should be planted and the selection continued until a maximum 

 of sugar is obtained. If in this way a variety of cane could be produced which would 

 give an average result in analysis of only 2 per cent, uncrystallizable sugar and 10 

 per cent, of sucrose, it would prove of the greatest value to the country. 



It is easy to see the advantage of an experiment carried on in this 

 systematic way and under the same conditions of cultivation and anal- 

 ysis. 



Soil and climate, it will be seen, are the only variables, and hence 

 their influence could be easily traced. I do not wish to say that one 

 year's experience in the manner described would be sufficient to deter- 

 mine all the doubtful questions in the sorghum problem. But the ad- 

 vantage of this method will be so apparent that there will be no diffi- 

 culty in securing its continuance for a number of years. It will be an 

 experiment carried on all over the country, in which every State will 

 feel an interest and every community secure a benefit. 



In a matter of such national importance, experiments made at Wash- 

 ington, at Kio Grande, and at Sterling are not enough. It is necessary 

 to place the whole country under investigation that the whole country 

 may be benefited. 



When once the parts of the country where climate and soil are most 

 favorable to the growth of sorghum have been determined, the second 

 great factor of the problem must be considered. This relates to the 

 constitution of the plant itself. 



I have asked the botanist of the Department, Dr. George Yasey, to 

 give me a brief botanical history of the sorghum plant, which I will in- 

 sert here : 



Sorghum vulgare, Persoon. 



This species is now considered by the best botanists to include all the very numer- 

 ous varieties which are cultivated as sorghum, sugar cane, broom corn, Dourra corn 



