The
report contains an interesting historical sketch of the various efforts
heretofore made to produce sugar from sorghum, none of which proved
remunerative until 1887, when the persevering efforts of a few energetic
individuals, encouraged and assisted by a small pecuniary aid from
government, were crowned with success, and gave birth, it may justly be
said, to a new industry which seems destined shortly to assume gigantic
proportions and increase the wealth of the country.
We make the following abstracts from the report:
The sorghum plant was introduced into the United States in 1853-54, by
the Patent Office, which then embraced all there was of the United
States Department of Agriculture. Its juice was known to be sweetish,
and chemists were not long in discovering that it contained a
considerable percentage of some substance giving the reactions of cane
sugar. The opinion that the reactions were due to cane sugar received
repeated confirmations in the formation of true cane sugar crystals in
sirups made from sorghum. Yet the small amounts that were crystallized,
compared with the amounts present in the juices as shown by the
analyses, led many to believe that the reactions were largely due to
some other substance than cane sugar.
During the years 1878 to 1882, inclusive, while Dr.
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