SUGAR FROM MAIZE STALKS

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 93, 12 July 1879, Page 3

SUGAR FROM MAIZE STALKS

Under the heading " A New Gift from Amerca" the London Spectator, a journal usually well informed respecting Transatlantic matters, gives an article which should be both interesting and valuable to New South Wales agriculturists. At the present time America is the granary of the. world, and her farmers, who can afford jto.grow.wheat, send it to London,. and then receive less than foity shillings per--, npiartar for in, believe that thoy wHI »-jbe able to produce it at a price which will enable merchants to seli'et thirty shillings per quarter. Of course, if they do, rents must be lowered-in England, and a good deal of land that is now- under cultivation will probably bo laid down for pasture, although the profits of the English grazier have-been'-'Very considerably cut down during the past'two-ot "three years bytho competition he has been subjected to from abroad, -But If the English farmer cannot groW .wheat"profitably at- thirty shillings per quarter,'neither can the Australan sottler afford to send -it to London to be disposed of for that r figure. In view of the important changes that so frequently occur in, and so entirely change the aspect of, industrial interests, her Majesty's Secretaries to Legations are charged with the duty of collecting all the information they can on such subjects, and reporting thereon to the Home Government Mr. V. Druinmond, Secretary to the Legation at Washington, has reported that, from what he has seen read, and heard,' ho is convinced that sugar of excellent quality can bo wry cheaply produced from the green stalks of maize, which is the special cereal of America, nnd grows luxuriantly over nearly the entire length and breadth of the continent. From the syrup expressed from the stalks of tbe green maize 81bs. of good sugar per gallon is produced, and from the sorghum which flourishes as readily and under the same circumstances as maize, 10 lbs. per gallon is the return. From the produce of jiu acre about 200 to ."500 gallons might be extracted. Thus, from one acre 2000 lbs. of sugar, worth 3c, per lb., would be obtained, •or £25. The sugar frein the sorghum syrup, says Mr. Druinmond, crystallize-s beautifully, and is fully equal to that produced from cane. The analysis made by the Government chemist of the sugar is a very favourable one, and as the information is obtained fiom an official report, there does seem a probability that the sugar trade will be revolutionized, and that insteud of depending mainly for our supply from the cane, which will only grow iu certain tropical districts, we shall obtain it from a hardy ppeeies of cereal which flourishes with as great luxuriance in this colony as it can do in the States. It is not necessary to say more than that the process of sugar manufacturing is a simple and inexpensive one. —Sydney Mail..