SUGAR FROM SORGHUM 
219 
do not prove that on certain soils, which are deficient in one 
or more essential constituents of plant-food, that the addition 
of proper fertilizers will not be of great value. 
“The analysis of the ash, taken with that of the soil, is a 
good guide for the application of mineral fertilizers. Sorghum 
is a very much less rapacious potash and phosphoric acid 
consumer than the sugar beet.” 1 
The importance of this statement about potash is obvious, 
when it is remembered that alkalies seriously interfere with 
the successful manufacture of sugar. 
Many interesting facts about sorghum may be culled from 
the earlier reports of the Agricultural Department. 
From comparative analyses of different parts of the stalk 
of the sorghum, it appears that the amount of juice present 
in the upper and lower halves does not vary widely. Hence, 
the practice of cutting the stalk several inches above the ground 
involves a large waste of sugar. 2 
Analyses of the stalk and leaves show that the stripping 
of the cane diminished the quantity of the juice, but increased 
its quality, although there is no available sugar in the juice 
of the leaves, owing to the larger percentage of other solids 
than glucose. 3 
Experiments at the Rio Grande Station were conducted: — 
“No. 1. To compare mill juice from unstripped cane with 
diffusion juice from thoroughly cleaned stalks. 
“No. 2. To compare the diffusion juice from stripped and 
unstripped sorghum. 
“The results were as follows: — 
“No. 1. Eighty-nine per cent, of the total sugar in the cane 
was secured by diffusion. Forty-eight per cent, of the total 
sugar in the cane was secured by milling. Milled products, 
therefore, must be increased by eighty-four per cent, in order 
to equal diffusion products. 
“No. 2. Diffusion juices from stripped cane excelled mill 
juices in concentration, color, taste, and purity. Diffusion 
1 Dept, of Agr., Ghent. Div. Bui. No. 3, p. 19. 
2 Ghent. Div. Dept, of Agr., Report, 1883, Collier, p. 30. 
8 Report, 1883, Collier, p. 30. 
