352 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Too late planting and an uncommonly hard frost in Septem¬ 
ber last, in a great many cases, killed the plants before they 
ripened. But wherever it was planted early enough it has 
ripened its seeds, and probably there is now as much seed in 
the State as will be needed for next year’s crop, though it may 
be unequally distributed. The efforts of the last year will be 
renewed, not only by the successful but by their neighbors. 
One successful man has made ten converts to his practice, 
though one half of those converts had themselves failed in their 
own experiments. 
To save these truly valuable plants, Sorghum and Imphee , 
from disgrace and neglect, to aid those who are willing again to 
undertake its culture and manufacture into sugar, to make the 
whole profitable, it will be my endeavor in the several papers 
■which I design furnishing to the Wis. Farmer during this Spring 
and Summer. 
The great object to be sought in the cultivation of Sorghum 
and Imphee , is the juice contained in the stalks or reeds. This 
furnishes the important product of sugar identical with cane or 
muscavado sugar. Cane sugar is no more the sap of Sugar 
Cane, than the juice of the ripe apple is the sap of the apple 
tree, and it is not found in the plant when in an immature 
state. If the ripe cane be cut in two and examined with a 
magnifying glass, the crystals will be seen as distinct and 
white as double refined sugar. All experiments with immature 
cane have shown, that until the seeds of the plant are ripe, the 
juice only contains grape sugar and starch, and no cane sugar ; 
while in every instance where the seeds have matured, the juice 
contains cane sugar, and no starch. From this the importance 
of ripening the plants will be apparent to all. Do not be afraid 
of Spring frosts. 
The Sorghum , which has been cultivated in Wisconsin exclu¬ 
sively, requires a little more time from the planting of the 
seed, for full maturity than the dent corn. The seeds remain 
under ground about twice as long as corn, frequently requi¬ 
ring as much as twenty or twenty-five days before they show 
