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Suggested Citation:"The Sorghum Sugar Industry: Introduction." National Research Council. 1883. 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. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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THE SORGHUM SUGAR INDUSTRY. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. " The sorghum question " referred by the Commissioner of Agriculture to the National Academy of Sciences for investigation and report, means undoubtedly, in the sense in which it now chiefly interests cultivators, the sugar-producing value of the sorghum. The questions relating to the value of sorghum for food for men or animals, of its use as forage, or for the manufacture of spirits, glucose, beer, and vinegar, &c., are all subordinate to the sugar-producing value of the plant. For more than a quarter of a century sirup has been made from sorghum, over a wide range of country in the United States, both north and south, and for a time it was confidently believed that sor- ghum culture would assume great importance as a source of cane-sugar. Many efforts were made to establish this industry in various places as a part of the domestic work of the farm. These attempts were rarely other than disappointments. Occasionally, here and there, good crude sugar was made, and it was frequently observed that the sirup, when permitted to stand for a length of time, deposited crystals of cane sugar. But, on the whole, the attempts to manufacture sugar from sorghum, on a scale of commercial importance, were a failure up to the time when the Department of Agriculture took in hand, in its chemical division, the solution of the sugar problem. That the sorghum was, under certain conditions imperfectly under- stood, capable of producing cane-sugar, admitted of no doubt, but what the conditions of success were was not known. How confused, con- tradictory, and ill-digested the state of our knowledge was on this subject, prior to 1878, will be seen from what follows. Long as the so-called "Chinese sorghum" or sugar cane had been cultivated in China, there appears to be no evidence that the Chinese used it for sugar-making nor even for sirup.* No data existed in their literature or experience on which to draw conclusions from these ancient cultivators of sorghum showing that they were even acquainted with its sugar-producing nature. This ex- perience has been almost exclusively American and is comparatively recent.t * See in Appendix an interesting statement from the eminent Chinese scholar Rev. S. Wells Williams, professor of Chinese at Yale College, on the so-called Chinese sugar-cane, p. 57. t The sugar-producing power of the sorghum appears to have been first noticed in France, and our first seed came to the United States from that country. Mr. Leonard Wray, author of the "Practical Sugar Planter," a standard work for a quarter of a century, introduced the sorghum into America from Natal, where he was then resident some thirty years ago. He is also cited by M. L. Vilmorin, as introducing sorghum 13

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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 Get This Book
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Sorghum is a plant that for many years has been used in the United States in an attempt to produce sugar. For over 25 years sorghum had been used to create syrup and it was believed that it sorghum would become a vital source of cane-sugar. Despite attempts, sorghum did not produce enough sugar to be of worth commercially. On January 30, 1882 the United States Commissioner of Agriculture of the Department of Agriculture, Hon. George B. Loring, requested that the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) review "the sorghum question"; that is the sugar-producing value of sorghum. Investigation of the Scientific and Economic Relations of the Sorghum Sugar Industry presents the NAS sorghum Committee's results following its investigation into the matter. The report includes the findings of the committee, the failures and success of producing sugar from sorghum, letters of transmittal, and more.

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