oct. — mar. 1859-60.] On the culture of Sorgho and Imphi. 303 



" I have cultivated" says he, " these 15 varieties or species and 

 have made sugar from them all. This trial has made me ac- 

 quainted not only with the saccharine richness of each kind, but 

 also with the conditions of their growth and their yield. My 

 manufacture has given such successful results that I left Natal to 

 return to Europe in order to pursue my discovery, and to announce 

 to the manufacturing community the importance of these plants 

 in the production of sugar." 



Another writer M. Don Julien Fellony Rodriguez states in 

 the same Journal, that the canes or stalks of these several varie- 

 ties of Imphi weigh from 4 oz. to 3 lbs., that the canes are firm 

 and contain from 50 to 80 per cent, of sweet juice, yielding from 

 10 to 16 per cent, of sugar. If these facts are correct and I have 

 every reason to believe they are, the cultivation of this plant will, 

 at no distant period bring about a revolution in the sugar trade. 

 For if I am not mistaken, the sugar cane which requires a growth 

 of a year and more in certain localities to arrive at the maximum 

 of production does not yield much more, if it does exceed that. 



In Cayenne for example where I took part in the experiments 

 of an able sugar boiler with the most perfect means of extraction 

 in use at the period, we certainly obtained 22 per cent, of very 

 fine sugar, but that was probably an exceptional result. 



It must always be matter of surprize that although these plants 

 have been known upwards of a century (for they had been iden- 

 tified in Linne's time, who named the one under consideration 

 Holcus Saccharatus). It must, I repeat be a subject of surprize 

 that no one had tried to turn them to account or to work them 

 with reference to their saccharine properties. Is it because this 

 sugar which is found in the plant in the state of glycose is diffi- 

 cult to extract and difficult to obtain in a state of perfect crystalli- 

 zation that its culture has been neglected ? This is the only conclu- 

 sion we can come to, and in it we must include the Chinese Sorgho 

 of M. Montigny, the Andropogon niger, which has been equally 

 well known for a long time. 



For my own part, I see reason to believe, that the extensive 

 cultivation of these plants highly saccharine, as they are within 

 any given period, will always be attended with great difficulty, 



