HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 107 
HOLCUS SACCHARATUS. 
Editor of the Florist : 
Dear Sir, — It may throw some light on the inquiries of W. D., respect- 
ing this '"'■ new novelty" in your last, that Van Houtte in his recent trade 
list expressly says this plant ^s the Sorghum Saccharatum, and in his cata- 
logue of seeds also says of it : " elle a le meme port que le Mais, et sa 
culture est toutaussi facile," so that there is not the slightest doubt that this 
"new benefactor to the human race," is no other than our good old friend 
the Broom Corn turned up in a foreign land ! Of course seeds of it will 
now be eagerly sought for, and of course immense prices will be paid. Per- 
haps a cent a piece will not be too much, as, instead of the beautiful and 
and the useful Broom Corn, cultivators will only see the Holcus sacchara- 
tus, the new and the imported. 
With regard to its power of superseding the sugar cane, it may not be 
dangerous to predict that it will prove of the same nature as that of our 
humble Claytonia, or more aspiring Apios, which some of our over san- 
guine friends have been urging on an ignorant public as a superseder or 
" substitute" for the Potato ! Holcus saccharatus is evidently the last 
new hobby to be ridden to death like all the others. 
While on the subject, I may note a few changes I have observed to occur 
in a kindred species, and which seems to have some little bearing on the 
subject of the asserted changes of ^gilops to Triticum. Some six years 
ago I had presented to me a packet of "Egyptian Corn." On raising it, 
it turned out to be Sorghusn cernuum, which it may not be amiss to explain 
is a plant allied to the broom corn, differing, popularly at least, in its heads 
of flowers and seeds, being on very short stalks so as to form when mature, 
a compact bunch, which is with difficulty separated ; while the head itself is 
curved as if bent downwards. Amongst them, however, were several which 
had long diffuse peduncles, and erect heads ; veritable broom corn in minia- 
ture. Considering these to be intruders, I cut them out soon after they 
were observed. The whole of the seed thus saved, was sown the next 
season, occupying perhaps one-eighth of an acre, of the produce, four-fifths 
at least turned out to be as perfect Broom Corn as I ever saw. 
It seems to me certain, from this, that Sorghum cernuum may become 
transmuted to Sorghum saccharatum, a change certainly not as great as 
recorded by Monsieur Fabre ; but which, however, took much less time to 
accomplish. Pennsylvanicus. 
