Excerpt from Letter of the Commissioner of Agriculture: To the Hon. Jno; W. Johnston, Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, U. S. Senate, on Sorghum Sugar
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 24th ultimo, inclosing Senate bill No. 1514, and also the resolution introduced by Hon. A. S. Paddock, and adopted in committee, requesting the Commissioner of Agriculture "to furnish a written report giving all the information in his power in regard to the manufacture of sugar from sorghum and Chinese sugar-cane, its cost, the character and cost of the machinery necessary, &c., together with statistics of the consumption and production of sugar in the United States and all matters bearing on the subject."
Replying seriatim to these inquiries, I submit the following, in some respects hastily-prepared, statement, which, while it is not as complete an answer to the resolution as I would desire to make, yet is as full as can be prepared in the limited time at my command.
The introduction and widespread distribution by the department of the variety of sorghum called Minnesota Early Amber (the juice of which is supposed to granulate more readily than that of many other varieties) has given a great impetus within the past two years to the cultivation of the sorghum cane and to the manufacture of sugar therefrom. It is earlier than any other known variety, ripening its seed in from ninety to one hundred days, and (as appears from reports made to the department, and in which are given the results obtained in almost every State in the Union) yields bountifully an excellent quality of sirup, besides, in many cases, good sugar, although all the operations reported, except the operation of F. A. Waidner & Co. at Crystal Lake, III., were carried on with open-pan evaporation. It should also be remarked that these reports show that the farmers who have raised this variety of cane during the past year believe it to be better, from the quality of juice obtained, as well as from the quantity per acre, than any other variety previously cultivated. These opinions, however, are the opinions of farmers who have not had the opportunity to make comparative tests, and who compare the results with those obtained from former cultivation and manipulation, from their recollection rather than from note books in which experiments have been carefully recorded.
We have now in the department some thirty-two varieties of sugar-producing sorghums and millets, all of which are valuable to a greater or less degree, according to the varying soil, climate, cultivation, seasons, and process of manufacture. That other valuable varieties of sorghum are to be obtained is altogether probable.
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