REPORT OF THE CHEMIST. 



Department of Agriculture, 



Bureau of Chemistry, 



November 12, 1884. 



Sir: I have the honor to submit the following synopsis of the work 

 done in this Bureau during the past year. That portion relating to milk 

 and butter has been prepared by myself. The re'sume' of the condition 

 of the sugar industry has been compiled from my reports by Mr. Clif- 

 ford Eichardson, during my absence from Washington. 

 Eespectfully, 



H. W. WILEY, 



Hon. George B. Loring, Chemist. 



Commissioner of Agriculture. 



the northern sugar industry in 1883. 



The results of extended investigation of this industry in all parts of 

 the country, and of laboratory and experimental mill- work conducted 

 under my superintendence at Washington, have appeared as Bulletins 

 Nos. 2 and 3 of the Chemical Division. 



The present status of the sugar question, as there defined, may be 

 understood from the following abstract : 



It is nearly thirty years since the sorghum plant was introduced into 

 this country ; but such have been the methods of investigation and 

 practical work that it is not yet decided whether it can be used with 

 success as a sugar-producing plant. 



The problem presents itself under two distinct heads— the scientific, 

 or theoretical, and the economic, or practical. 



The scientist, looking at it from the position of the mere analyst, 

 determines the fact of the presence of sugar in the sorghum, and, as an 

 investigator, the adaptability of different chemical procedures to the 

 separation of the sugar from the cane. The economist, on the other 

 hand, taking the statements and methods of the scientist into consider- 

 ation, regards the problem merely as to the possibilities of making 

 money under the conditions placed before him. The work of this divi- 

 sion has been necessarily, to a large degree, of a purely scientific nature. 

 The results of economic work in different parts of the country have, 

 however, been, as far as possible, observed and gathered together. 



importance of meteorological conditions for the sugar 



industry. 



The four sugar-producing plants of practical importance — the sugar- 

 cane, the beet, the sorghum, and the inaple — are suited to very different 

 climatic conditions. 



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