Investigation of the Scientific and Economic Relations of the Sorghum Sugar Industry: Being a Report Made in Response to a Request From the Hon. George B. Loring (1883) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 43-50
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From page 43... ...
1. -- THE PRESENCE OF SUGAR IN THE JUICES OF SOEGHUM AND MAIZE STALKS. From records examined by this Committee, it appears that, during the three years prior to 1882, there have been made at the Department of Agriculture almost four thousand five hundred chemical analyses of the juices of about forty varieties of sorghum and of twelve varieties of maize.
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From page 44... ...
of sugar, these results are unexpected and surprising. But the average results obtained during long periods of working and from different varieties are of more value to the practical farmer than any exceptional instances.
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From page 45... ...
Tnis fact of the wide variation in the different varieties in their period of reaching full maturity, although previously recognized, has not received the consideration which its extreme importance demanded, as is evinced by the fact that at present, as for the past thirty years, those varieties are largely grown in the Northern States which could only reach maturity at rare intervals and in exceptional seasons in these latitudes. This satisfactorily accounts for the occasional production of crystallizable sirups, and the general failure to secure similar results continuously.
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From page 46... ...
747: These experiments are not conclusive, and the whole question needs a careful and accurate investigation. As the result of such an investigation, we call attention to the average results of the past years, as shown in the tables accompanying this report, from which it will be seen that during each of the past three years it has been demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that the value of the sorghum for the production of sugar increased, upon an average of the 35 or 37 varieties tested, fully 500 per cent., and in many cases 1,000 percent., after the period when, according to the authorities cited, it was recommended that the crop should be cut up.*
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From page 47... ...
Resolved by the Senate (the Souse of Representatives concurring) , That the Report of the National Academy of Sciences on the sorghum sugar industry be printed with such portions of the appendix and accompanying exhibits as may be selected by the Joint Committee on Public Printing, and that there be printed 6,500 additional copies, of which 2,000 copies shall be for the use of the Senate, 3,000 copies for the use of the House of Representatives, 1,000 copies for the use of the Department of Agriculture, and 500 copies for the use of said National Academy of Sciences.
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From page 48... ...
While it is probably quite true that with very simple means and moderate skill good crystallizable sirup may be made on the farm, it is clear that the skill and experience of a professional sugar-master is essential to the successful management of the trains and vacuum-pans of a well-ordered sugar-house, and the natural result will be, beyond doubt, that such establishments will be set up at convenient points in each sugar-producing district. The problem, as far as it relates to the production of sirups, appears to be already solved by abundant experience.
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From page 49... ...
of the weight of the juice for each .001 increase in specific gravity, or an average increase between 1050' and 1082 of 9.6 per cent. of the weight of the juice in available sugarThe practical importance of this fact, which appears to be demonstrated by the very numerous analyses made during the past three years, can hardly be too strongly emphasized.
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From page 50... ...
10. -- EFFECT OF RAIN UPON THE COMPOSITION OF SORGHUM JUICES. The investigation of this question and the results secured offer a good illustration as to the importance of submitting doubtful questions to the test of actual experiment, since it is nearly certain that any one, reasoning from a priori considerations, would have concluded, and indeed such conclusion has been accepted as established fact, that the effect of rain would be manifest in a diluted juice, and that conversely a prolonged drought would result in a concentration and diminution of the juice.
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