78 - REporRT OF THE First ASSISTANT OF THE 
PUWhite African Jib f 1 Suny eG WOot Piatenec ase aa tenny oy RPS 


Orange (2), West India (2), ete. ....0ccs cesses eee: 84, 118, 120,126 
Wim bischuapa so occ ale een, AULD Boies Pang Ba ets eo OO. TLO. 166 
Wrance (7), (Siberian, ete, iy iuiisewy woe a eee sale 111, 118, 119, 124 
All the other varieties, including many of the best sugar- 
producing canes, require a much longer growing season than 
usually occurs in this State. 
Many of the varieties of sorghum mentioned yield a large crop 
of handsome seed, but a seed crop is very improbable in localities 
where English sparrows are found. | 
Small flocks of from fifty to 100 sparrows appear in the field 
as soon as the sorghum is in bloom. Many heads are destroyed 
before the seed is formed. A much greater amount of seed is 
scattered on the ground than is eaten by the birds. They do not ; 
eat the seed from the ground so long as any remains on the stalk. 
With considerable trouble, a few seed-heads were saved this 
year, and these were badly mutilated. Although many sparrows 
were shot, efforts to keep them away were unsuccessful. 
Some attempts at hybridizing were made by Mr. Beckwith, but 
the sparrows tore open the bags which covered the panicles and 
destroyed the seed. 
Selection of seed was made from the earliest maturing, and 
best-proportioned canes of each variety. Seed from those canes 
which contained the highest per cent of sugar was saved for plant- 
ing. The results of analyses of the juices from individual canes 
are given in the following table. Some of them were made when 
the cane was still green. Most of them were made when the seed 
chad just become hard: 



1 
