155 
SORGHO^ OR CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 
sorgho are nearly of equal value; for whilst the cane yields 
from 14 to 18 per cent, of saccharine, the sorgho will yield, 
according to Leplay, 15, and to Dupeyrat 10 per cent, 
of crystallizable sugar, of precisely the same character as 
that of the cane, the beet-root, and the maple. Of the 
proportion contained in maize we have not the means of 
ascertaining at hand ; but if our recollection does not deceive 
us, it is from 9 to 12 per cent. This, however, is not 
now the question which lies between the sorgho in the South 
and the beet-root in the North of France, in which country 
the two will probably come into vigorous competition in the 
manufacture of sugar. 
The sorgho has hitherto been acclimated in France only as 
high as the department of the Loire, in the 47^° N. L.; 
and we have reason to think that it will not pay to cul¬ 
tivate it at a higher latitude, from the noticeable fact that the 
further north it is grown, the less saccharine it will yield. 
This accounts for the difference between the two statements 
given above. M. Dupeyrat speaks of sorgho grown in 
47 N., whilst Leplay refers to the department of Le Gard, 
in 44° N. L., the difference in the produce of saccharine 
being jive per cent. It is the same with the sugar-cane, 
which cannot be cultivated at all at a higher latitude than 
about 44°, at vrhich the proportion of saccharine is far less 
than in the tropical countries. In this respect, both the 
sorgho and the sugar-cane differ in toto from the beet-root; 
the quantity of saccharine contained in this latter being 
greater in proportion as it advances northward. Below 45° 
it is so small as not to be worth cultivating, whilst in 
Northern Russia it yields as much as from 13 to 15 per 
cent. The cultivation of the sorgho in France therefore, 
for the purpose of making sugar, must necessarily be confined 
to the South, as that of beet-root is to the North, even if 
it could be acclimated in the latter, which we much doubt; 
at any rate, it cannot be profitably grown there for sugar 
making purposes. 
As fodder, however, the sorgho possesses valuable pro¬ 
perties, and will doubtless be extensively cultivated in the 
North of France. Whether for that purpose it could be 
grown in the United Kingdom remains to be proved; but, at 
any rate, it is worth trying. In that case, it ought to be 
sown in the latter end of June or early in July, when there 
is no danger from frost. It will then be ready to cut in 
September, and continue until November. If the plants 
were raised on seed-beds, protected from the frosts at night, 
it would enable the grower to obtain them at least a 
