Sorgho and imphee, the Chinese and African sugar canes : a treatise upon their origin, varieties, and culture, their value as a forage crop, and the manufacture of sugar, syrup, alcohol, wines, beer, cider, vinegar, starch, and dye-stuffs : with a paper by Leonard Wray, Esq., of Caffraria, and a description of his patented process for crystallizing the juice of the imphee : to which are added, copious translations of valuable French pamphlets

Front matter

(50ttteU Inidetaitg ffitbrarg

CHARLES WILLIAM WASON

COLLECTION

Preface

If the subject of this work, the Ohinese Sugar Cane, were as little knowQ in Europe as it is at present in our own country, I might well hesitate before appearing as so decidedly its champion. The six years which have elapsed since its introduction from China into Prance, have seen it experimented upon in many different ways ; and its capacity to yield various valuable producte, has been more or less thoroughly tested.

The attention of agriculturists, chemists, sugar makers, distillers, and others, has in turn been attracted to it as the possible source of profit to themselves ; and in our own country, some of our most respected and trustworthy citizens have put it under cultivation, and announced its value to the public.

It therefore having been endorsed by investigators in both countries as a plant of great promise, and no delusive speculation fostered by sanguine minds for interested purposes, I have addressed myself to the task of compiling all the evidence as yet placed at our disposal. And strengthening it by the result of my own experience and that of my Mends, I have completed the testimony down to the latest moment, and ask for it a patient hearing.

Various causes have combined to render the present year most auspicious to the cultivation and trial of a new sugar plant. Not only are our planters filled with apprehension because of the rapid decline of the tropical sugar cane, under the vicissitudes of our climate, but the use of sugar has now become so common, that we regard it as little short of a necessary of life ; and short crops, reduced arrivals from foreign countries, and excessive speculation, have aU conspu^d to advance

IV PREFACE.

the prices of every description of sugars at an almost unprecedented rate. Under the stimulus of such scarcity, extraordinary attention has been given to the manufacture of maple sugar, as the statistics of the present year will doubtless show. But supposing even that sixty millions of pounds of maple sugar should be made, the insufficiency of this amount to' supply the demand of the country will be appreciated, when we reflect that in 1855 we used nme hundred and nineteen millions of pounds of sugar, and many millions of gallons of molasses.

So great is the demand, and so comparatively scanty the supply that when our General Government saw the crop of 1855 was less than the preceding one by nearly two per cent, a ship was dispatched to the "West Indies and adjacent tropical countries, to procure a stock of fresh cuttings of the best varieties of cane, to renew the exhausted plantations of Louisiana.

What wonder is it then that, when it became bruited abroad that there had been introduced from France, a new plant which was said to have been in common use in North China for the production of sugar, and to be capable of acclimation in even our extreme Northern States, one simultaneous desire should have possessed .the farmers of all parts of the country to procure a little of the precious seed, and experiment for themselves as to its virtues.

Thus, then, we have seen the news passed with rapidity from paper to paper, throughout the land. The United States Patent Office gratuitously distributed one hundred thousand papers of seed ; enterprising seedsmen imported it by the ton from Prance ; the entire crop of Mr. Richard Peters, of Georgia, was sold by him in packages of one third of a pound each ; so that, considering the supplies actually known to have been distributed, I think to be entirely within the bounds of moderation in stating, that there are now, in the fall of 1857, under cultivation in the United States, fifty thousand acres of Chinese Sugar Cane.

The interest in the question has been materially heightened, and thie hopes of success greatly augmented by the statements and discoveries of Mr. Leonard Wray, of London, formerly a resident of Natal, South

PREFACE. V

Africa, who in the month of March last, arrived in this country, to take out letters patent for his process of making sugar from the juice of the sorgho and the imphee. This gentleman states that he discovered on the south eastern coast of Africa, fifteen varieties of the Holcus saccharatus, cultivated by the Zulu KafiBrs, under the name im-le, or imphee, and that, from the juice of each variety, after repeated failures, he made sugar in large quantities. Convinced of the importance of his discovery, he has come to the United States at the invitation- of Governor Hammond, of South Carolina, to introduce his plants. Mr. Wray has heartily joined me- in my present labor* and has furnished the elaborate treatise upon the origin, varieties, culture and manufactures of the imphee.

The value of the plant being established, therefore, and its ultimate success seeming to me quite certain, there is immediately created a demand for a critical work on the subject, which shall enable enterprising and energetic men to acquaint themselves with its merits, and divert unproductive capital and industry to carry on its various manufactures. With no hope of completely filling the hiatus, but as having arranged all our available material, this work has been written. The basis of it is the matter contained in a lecture which I wrote and delivered by invitation at agricultural meetings of the legislatures of Massachusetts, New York and Ohio, during the past winter. The cordial reception which it met, and the paucity of information as yet published in this country, suggested the idea that, perhaps, if enlarged and illustrated by appropriate engravings, it might be of value at the present stage of our experience.

The pamphlets of Dr. Sicard, P. Bourdais, Count Beauregard, Paul Madinier, and Buret and the letter of Vibnorin, were placed at my disposal for translation by Messrs. Hedges, Free & Co., of Cincinnati, who received them from Hon. John T. Mason, our Minister at Paris. The description of a West India sugar plantation, the chapter on aJchohol, and the outs of sugar and distilling apparatus, were furnished by Mr. John W. Reid, of this city. The article by Dr. Jackson, furnished by Mr. D. Jay Browne, of the United States Patent Office, in advance of its publication ; those of Dr. Hayes, Mr. Sprague, Prof. Gray and

VI PEEFACB.

Mr. Eedmond, need no praise from me to make their excellence more apparent.

Thus aided and encouraged by gentlemen of the highest scientific and practical attainments, the author presents this work to the agricultural public in the sincere desire that the future may not belie the promise of the present, but that the plants of which it treats may prove to be valuable acquisitions, an enduring source of wealth to the American farmer.

Wbstchester Farm School,

Mount Vernon, N.T., August 30th, 1857.

Preface To The Sixth Edition

The season which has passed since the appearance of this work in September last, has been one of great interest to all cultivators of the new sugar canes. The published results of thousands of experiments in every State of the Union, under every latitude and on every imaginable variety of soil, have established the value of the sorgho beyond cavil. There is scarce a press in the country but has had in its columns some certificate of successful sorgho culture, and the vexed sugar question has been definitively settled by the production of cane sugar crystals by numerous experimentera. Nothing, however, which positively proved the profit and ease of northern sugar production had been made public prior to the 13th of the present month, when, at the meeting of the United States Agricultural Society in the City of Washington, there were exhibited splendid samples of loaf sugar, " No. 1 Cofibe " sugar, and various grades of " Muscovado" sugar, made by a practical and well known sugar refiner of Philadelphia, Mr. Joseph S. Lovering. His success was so complete and the explanation of his process so lucid and satisfactory, that the Society, as will be seen from the record in another place, awarded to him its large silver medal for his well conducted experiments. This pamphlet of Mr. Lovering, with additional practical instructions for farmers, prepared especially for this work, will be found in the Appendix. To make room for this and the record of other American experiments of the past year, several articles, embraced in the Appendix to the first edition, have been expunged because they were. of minor iatereat compared to those taking their places, and could

VUl PREFACE.

be omitted without materially affecting the practical value of the work.

The sorgho has been so successfully cultivated throughout the great West, that Conventions have been called in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, to consider the best method for its cultivation and for the manufacture of its products. At the recent session of the United States Agricultural Society, the merits of both sorgho and imphee formed the subject of a very thorough debate. It will readily be foreseen that the abatement of that excessive speculation which so greatly enhanced the value of sugars, will make it difficult for the new canes to compete with the tropics in this respect, but beyond this they have a commercial value which will insure their wide cultivation. The author expects to spend some months in France during the present year, and any important discoveries which may come under his observation, will be communicated in future editions of this work, should such be demanded.

New York, January, 1658

Contents

iart I.

OHAPTBE I.

ORIGIN AND SUBSEQUENT HISTOBT OP THE CHINESE SUOAE OANB.

Chapter II. Desomption Op The Plant

The Confusion among Agricultural Writers — Appearance of the Plant —

Height, &c. — Comparative Growth of the Sorgho and other similar

Plants — Weight of the Stalk— Progressive Growth — Pulling out the

l"uft8 -Ripening — Prostration by Wind Storms. 32-45

1* [9]

X CONTENTS.

Chapter III. Soil Eequieed — Culture — Manubing

Should Hilling be Practiced? — Deep Culture— Subaoil Plow — Soaking Seed — Covering Lightly — Manures — Hybridization— Cultivation — Curing Fodder — Saving Seed — Stripping — Stacking. 46-56

Chapter IV. Value As A Forage Crop — Testimony Of Cultivatoes

Sowing for Fodder — Eattooning — Cutting Fodder — Testimony of D. Jay Browne, Esq. — Testimony of Author — Testimony of Mr. Gratz, of Kentucky — Mr. Wray's Remarks at the Farmers' Club — Count Beaure gard'e Experience— Testimony of G. de Lacoste — Of Gov. Gardner, of Mass. — Experience of C. L. Flint, of Mass. — The Sorgho in Texas this year — Ability to withstand Drought — Curing — Its Nutritive Qualities — Size of Stalks in North Africa — Testimony of Doctor TuiTel, and Lacoste— Coloring the Bones of Chickens— Yield per Acre of Seed and Forage — Should not be allowed to Grow more than one Year.

57-71

CHAPTER Y.

SUGAR AND SUGAR MAKING A WEST INDIAN SUGAR PLANTATION —

CUTTING CEUSHINO BOILING.

Apparatus Required, Fully Illustrated — A West Indian Steam Mill — Cattle Mill— Horse Mills— Stream Trains— Ordinary Trains— Vacuum Pan — Bascule Pan — Making a Small Crop of Sugar — The Cause for Present High Prices— The "African Apprentice " System. 72-128

Chapter VI. Syrup — Best Methods Op Making It

Experience of American Growers— The Seed obtained as well as Syrup Apparatus Necessary— M. d'lvernois' Syi-up made without a Mill— Iror

CONTENTS. xi

Rollers bettor than Wooden Rollers— Amount of Sacchaiine Matter Varies in different Cases — Necessity of Cleanliness and System— Col. Peters obtains 468 Gallons on an Acre. 129-140

Chapter VII. Alcoholic Products

Most Approved Method of Making Sorgho Alcohols— The French Experiments — Brandies — The French Government Patronage — Enthusiasm of Dr. Turrel— J. "W. Keid's Experiments— Distillery— Apparatus Illustrated with numerous Engravings. 141-168

Chapter VIII

The Quality of Vinegar — D. Jay Browne's Tesfimony — Count Moignerie's Proci^sn Described — Dr. SicarJ's Experiments, and his Method of Vinegar Making — The Value of the Starch — Pearling and Hulling tho Seeds — The Flour — Author's Experiments in making the Dye Stuffs — Coloring Ribbons — Dr. Sicard's Samples of Colors — Chemical Treatment to Procure the Tints — Pigments — Cerosie or Vegetable Wax — Making Candles in China — Author's Experiments — Monsieur Hardy's Calculations — Com Stalk Paper — Duret's Specimens — Dr Sicard's Specimens — Process of Paper Making. 169-184

Chapter IX

MR. WEAY'S PROCESS FOB MAKING EXCELLENT SUGAR PROM THI IMPHEE, SORGHO, SUGAR MAPLE, BEET, AND ORDINARY SUGAR CANE DESCRIBED;

fart II.

THE IMPHEE.

BY liEONAED WEAT, ESQ.

Discovery of the Plant in Caffraria — Previous attempts to Make Sugai llDSUccessful — Botanical Position of the Imphee — The Different Varie

XU CONTENTS.

ties— Their Description and Yields of Sugar— Cultivation— Manuring —The Imphee Compared to the Sugar Beet and Sugar Cane— Ameircan Notes for 1857 on the Imphee. 193-235

Appendix

Award of Medal to Mr. Lovering — Condensed Reports of Experiments — ^Feeding Stock with Sorgho — Sorgho Paper — Report on the Botanical Rank of the Sorgho and Imphee — J. S. Lovering's Experiments — ^Application of Lovering's Process — Letter from Louis Vilmorin — Chemical Researches on the Sorgho Sucre — Chemical Composition of the Sorgho— Author's Translation of Pamphlets of M. Bourdais — Count Beauregard — ^Avequin — Buret — Vilmorin — Hardy — History of the Sorgho in th« Southern States, by D. Redmond. 236-353