SUGAR PLANTS 85 



reservoir, or directly to the evaporating pan, under 

 which a fire burned, while the man attending it 

 skimmed the boiling liquid to get rid of the im- 

 purities in it. Eight gallons of juice made one of 

 heavy syrup. The strong taste was partly due 

 to the leaf fragments and other foreign matter 

 that made 25 per cent, of the crude sap. 



To-day, cheap glucose syrups have replaced 

 the molasses of frontier memory. But they are 

 not so honest as the darker, heavier molasses. 

 The gingerbread and molasses cookies of our 

 grandmothers' day cannot be equalled by any 

 present-day treacles. The farmer affords sugar 

 now, and therefore the manufacture of molasses 

 has fallen off in country districts, and the crushers 

 rust in the junk heap. 



This sorghum came originally from Africa by 

 way of Egypt, and an importation of seeds brought 

 it also from China, to be tried as a fodder plant in 

 drought-stricken regions of the Southwest. Here 

 it is still grown for forage and for syrup. Half- 

 grown canes are pastured and made into silage. 

 It out-crops the best varieties of fodder corn. 



SUGAR BEETS 



A number of vegetables contain a noticeable 

 amount of sugar. The onion is one of these. 



