INDIANA  FAEMEE.
Vol. VIL]
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., JAN., 1859.
[No. X.
PKACTICAL  ESSAYS  ON   FARM
PKODTTCTS.
BY THE EDITOn.
Sorghum Sacchavatum—Sorghum.
N"UMI"I'R ONE.
This essay is intended for the popular reader;
therefore all technicalities, as far as possible, will
be avoided, so that our remarks may be comprehended by the most uneducated men.
WHAT   13   SOROHCM?
Sorghum looks more like broom corn than anything else. The seed straws, however, arc short
and crooked, and cannot be made into brooms.—-
Like broom corn it lingers in its first growth—
spending all its vital force in forming a deep root,
and throwing uut root-libcrs on a large scale;
when, after iudian corn planted at the same time
has gained perhaps twelve inches on it in highth,
it suddenly seems to spring into life, and in a
few days not only overtakes the precocious corn,
but in many cases actually attains its growth
first.
Sorghum was brought to Europe and America
from the north part of China. The climate, then,
in which it has grown for thousands of years, is
very similar to that of Indiana. IIcucc, as a
matter ot course, its time of maturity corresponds
with the length of our seasons.
COMPOSITION  OF TUE STALK.
The chemical elements of a stalk of sorghum
ure not far different from the elements of a stalk
of Indian corn. Thc different results obtained by
different chemists indicate that sorghum varies
more in its chemical properties than corn or wheat,
or jwrhaps any other crop. The analysis of differently constituted soils, and of the cane grown
on them, have yielded results varying from two
to four per cent, of alkalies. It will be a fortunate circumstance if further investigations shall
dcmeiistrale, wli.it now serins U> be thc ttnth,
that the cultivator, by selections of soil and ma-
VOL. VII.—20
nure and by judicious tillage, can grow sugar, or
syrup, or alcohol, at pleasure.
Lime, soda, silica, potash, alumina, magnesia
and phosphoric acids, are thc principal substances
derived from the soil, as minerals. If the pum-
mace is all returned to the soil, as green manure,
the production of a crop of sugar will always improve the soil, whilst most other crops exhaust
it.
COMPOSITION OF THE SAP.
Small amounts of earthy matters are found in
the sap, but they exist only in thc green sap, on
their way from the soil to the tissues of the stalk,
and as fast a.s the sap becomes ripe, these substances become fixed in thc wood, and when
speaking of the clarified syrup, we may say that
it contains no mineral substances.
The saccharine elements, sugar nnd syrup, are
composed of substances derivable entirely from
the atmosphere. These substances are carbon,
oxygen and hydrogen. Tbe two latter are the
elements of water, and as they exist in the same
proportions iu sugar as they do in common water,
we may say tliat the elements of sugar are water
and carbon. Oxygen, nl.-o, in an uncombined
state, constitutes about one-fifth part of the atmosphere. Charcoal is nearly pure carbon.—
When fuel of any kind is burnt, and when animal or vegetable matters arc slowly decomposed,
the oxygen of the atmo'phero coml inc.* with the
carbon ofthe fuel or decomposing matter, and
forms carbonic acid gas, which flo.-V.- in thc air
and is absorbed by cold water in thc soil so freely
that a pint of cold water will contain a pint
of carbonic acid (carbon and oxygen). When
the soil water enters the stalk as sap, and is conveyed upward to the leaf, the oxygen is thrown
off from the upper side ofthe leaf, and the carbon
retained. As oxygen is thrown off from the upper surface of the leaves, carbonic acid gas enters
the leaves on thc under side, which, after going
down by thc sap circulation and then ascending
to the leaves again, throws off its oxygen as did
that which entered by the roots.    This  two-fold.