78 
SCIENCE. 
SCIENCE: 
A Weekly Record of Scientific 
Progress. 
JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 
Published at 
229 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 
F. O. Box 3838 . 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 1880. 
To Correspondents. ^ 
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the medium of recording their work, and facilities will be extended to 
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Broadway. 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
At a time when the English Government appears to 
be awakening to the necessity of systematically bring- 
ing the light of science to bear on the various impor- 
tant agricultural problems which are continually 
forced upon public notice, it is an agreeable task to 
examine the reports of the Department of Agriculture 
at Washington, and to note the practical usefulness of 
the work there taken in hand, and the thoroughness 
with which it is performed. 
The recent reports refer to one of the most import- 
ant successes of this Department, that of obtaining 
crystalizable sugar from maize plants, which may be 
grown in most sections of the United States. Con- 
gress at once appreciated the value of this discovery 
and directed the Commissioner of Agriculture to fur- 
nish a report giving all the information in his power in 
regard to the manufacture of sugar from sorghum, its 
cost, the character and expense of the machinery neces- 
sary, together with statistics of the consumption and 
production of sugar in the United States and all matters 
bearing on the subject. 
In the reply, which was made seriatim , we learn that 
the Department has thirty-two varieties of sugar 
producing sorghums and millet plants, all more or less 
valuable, according to the varying soils, climate, culti- 
vation, seasons and process of manufacture. From 
these they have selected four, which in their opinion 
are best adapted to the ends in view. The most useful 
of these is the Minnesota Early Amber, the juice of which 
is said to granulate more readily than other varieties. It 
ripens early, yields bountifully an excellent quality of 
syrup, and the farmers who have raised this variety of 
cane record their experiences as showing it to be better 
than any other variety. The Department of Agricul- 
ture commends it for use in the Northern part of the 
United States in latitudes above Chicago. 
Below this latitude the White Liberian Cane may be 
planted as auxiliary to the Early Amber, while in the 
latitudes of St. Louis and the region south of it, 
Honduras Cane should be added to the other two 
varieties, thus extending the season for working the 
cane many weeks beyond the period that could be 
utilized, if but one variety were planted. The Chinese 
Sorgo Cane ripens about two weeks after the Early 
Amber. 
As the methods employed in making sugar from 
these plants have been already described, we need only 
add that experiments by the chemist of the Depart- 
ment during the last two years have demonstrated that 
there is practically little if any difference in the juice 
of the several varieties ; that they all produce sugar 
which can be easily granulated, if the cane be taken at 
the proper season of growth, and that the only impor- 
tant question yet to be determined is as to the variety 
that will yield the largest amount in a given soil and 
climate. 
We understand that only “ a fair measure of 
success ” has attended the manufacture of sugar, in the 
manner now under description, by farmers on a small 
scale, and we cannot too strongly endorse the 
sensible advice which has been tendered, that farmers 
should merely convert the juice of the stalks into a 
syrup, and that large central mills be established where 
the syrup may be converted by proper vacuum pans 
and centrifugals. 
These central mills would have the same relation to 
this industry that the grist mills of a neighborhood 
bear to wheat and corn. 
The making of sugar entails a process requiring 
considerable practice and experience, and we are not 
surprised to find that farmers find many difficulties in 
the way of success, and it will certainly pay them 
better to sell the syrup, to be converted under the 
direction of experts. We understand that in the 
Western States a gallon of dense syrup weighing, say 
13 pounds, can be produced for 16^ cents (possibly 
less). This, if properly managed, should yield 6 to 8 
pounds of sugar, and, if handled by the centrifugal, 
may be separated at a fraction of one cent per pound. 
If this method of co-operation is carried out, we 
see no reason why the 2,000,000,000 pounds of sugar 
annually used in the United States should not be 
grown and manufactured within its boundaries and by 
native industry. 
