NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



77 



Agriculture, in the Kansas Farmer, and other i^ublications of the State? 

 that it is not necessary to speak of them here. 



Anything like complete information as to the history of the sorghum 

 production in Kansas would be impossible without great research and 

 much inquiry among the inhabitants. Time has not permitted me to"^ 

 bestow this work upon the subject in the preparation of this paper. 

 What has been here presented may possibly serve the temporary pur- 

 pose of the gentlemen who laid out the work of this meeting, and may 

 aid the future historian in more extended inquiries. 



SORGHUM IN ITALY.* 



EXPER13IENTS MADE UNDER THE CARE OF THE MINISTER OF AGRI- 

 CULTURE. 



"The sorghum Amber cane of Minnesota, so called on account of the 

 amber color of its seed, is a variety of our common broom-corn {Sorghum 

 saccharatimi), from which, while it does not differ in its specific char- 

 acter, it is easily recognizable by not having the interior of the stalk 

 filled with a white and dry pith, but rich in saccharine juice. This 

 close affinity is the cause of the easy hybridization of Amber cane, and 

 when cultivated in the vicinity of the broom-corn of our fields there is 

 danger, after some l^pse of time, of the stalks becoming dry and poor 

 in saccharine substance. 



Whilst the Sorghum saccharatum grows spontaneously in the East 

 Indies and in Arabia, the variety we are speaking of came to us from 

 America, where it is called Early Amber. In I806 and 1857 1 seeds of 

 various kinds of sorghum were introduced into the United States from 

 France and England, and under the influence of the climate and of culti- 

 vation they have been modified, and multiplied. 



In the experiments made at Washington upon the saccharine richness 

 of sorghum in 1881, twelve States of the Union figured as having furn- 

 ished seeds of thirty-four varieties. In 1877 it was found that in the 

 juice of Minnesota Amber cane there was a large deposit" of sucrose, 

 and from that time accurate investigations were commenced in Amer- 

 ica on the subject. 



Also in Italy, in the years 1880 and 1881, experiments were made under 

 the care of Commander Ohizzolini in Mantua, of Mr. Sacerdoti in Mo- 

 dena, of the Technical Institute of Viterbo, in the district of Yiterbo 

 and of this department in the fields set apart for experiments of the 

 agricultural stations scattered throughont various provinces. But the 

 difference found in the results of culture and in those of saccharometrj^^ 

 rendered manifest the utility of new studies that should show clearly on 



Annali di Agricnltura ; Esperimenti Culturali Sul Sorgo Ambrato. 

 t These dates are erroneous. See Report of Botanist. — R. 



