VOL  XXI.
~~
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, JAN. 23, 1886.
NO. 4
Caue (5roiucrs.
A PIOHEEB SORGHUM WORK IB..
Mr C. Fields, of Hancock county, is one
of tbe oldest and best manufacturers of
sorghum sirup in the State. He has been
ln the business regularly every fall for 20
years, and insists that he made as good an
article 20 years ago as now. He left some
sirup with us a few days ago that equals
any we have sampled, and we were surprised to hear him say that he had made
as tine an article every year since he
began. He does it by careful skimming
and olose attention, using no ohemloals.
The pans he uses are the old fashioned
Cook's. He has four of these, each 15 feet
long, and employing 11 hands in their
oare. With this force he works up the
product of some 40 acres of cane of his
own growing, and nearly an equal amount
for neighbors. His own cane averages 150
gallons an acre. He cultivates three varieties, the Honduras, Early Amber and
Orange, and his preference is in the order
named. He supplies several dealers ln
this city, all of whom give him high testimonials as to excellence and salability
of the sirup he manufactures.
SORGHUM.
Past, Present and Prospective.
' Read at tbe cane growers meeting at Indianapolis,
Dec. SO,1885, by W. F. Leitiman, Clayton, Ind.]
The above caption would indicate a full
history of the Borghum industry, this we
will not try to give, as we deem it unnecessary, and inappropriate to the occasion,
and would be an intrusion upon your time
and a severe trial ef your patience. The
early history of the genus of plants known
by the collective name of sorghum is so
obscure that if we were to trace their history backward in search of the time and
place where they were tirst cultivated and
utilized by man, we would soon lose all
trace in the dim mists of antiquity. As
we are more directly concerned in that
part of its history whioh relates to its cultivation as a source of sugar and sirup,
we will content ourselves with a kind of
superficial review of
THE INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES.
Thirty-one years have passed since the introduction of sorghum into our country.
A stranger it came and for some reason
no* very well understood, we have not
fully made its acquaintance yet. Like the
heathen Chinese it came from China, and
like him has come to stay. Both flourish
as if they were indigenous to our country,
and both have peculiarities and ecentrici-
ties that are incomprehensible, and ways
tbat are dark and past finding out. Many
of you will remember the sensation whioh
the introduction of sorghum created
among our people. Extravagant claims
were made for it. Its sugar producing
qualities were exaggerated beyond measure; the quality of Its sirup was extolled
beyond degree; fabulous fortunes were
soon to be realized from the new industry;
our whole sugar and molasses business
was soon to be completely revolutionized;
every farmer in the land was to grow a
little patch of sorghum, get a little mill
and a little kettle and not only boil his
own supply of sirup and sugar but also to
supply his less fortunate village and city
neighbors. We were to grow rich as a
nation by saving the vast amount of gold
which we were, and are yet, paying to
other nations for these com modi ties. This
was all very nice ln theory but in practice
lt failed. The sorghum patches were
planted, the plants grew luxuriantly and
ln due time were crunched between two
massive rolls of the ponderous wooden
mills. The juice soon found its way to
the kettles and was set to boiling but unfortunately it failed to perform its part of
tbe role. The sugar like the old woman's
butter "would not come," and In Its stead
a black viscid substance, strong, sweetish
and sickening to the taste was the result.
No amount of boiling wonld Induce it to
crystallize. The longer it was boiled the
blacker and tougher it became, and here
the demonstration ended. Sorghum was
declared a failure as a source of sugar, but
for sirup its reputation was pretty well
sustained, and for this purpose its cultivation steadily increased. The strong acid
flavor of the sirup being very objectionable to many soon Induced manufacturers
to try to overcome this objection. For
this purpose many things were reoom-
me^ded and tried, such an milk and eggs,
butter, milk and soda, mucilage of elm
bark, clay, lime, soda without the milk,
and doubtless many other things equally
valueless. Such nostrums were worse
than useless, with the single exception of
lime, which was used with some success,
but then as now, while a few succeeded
the majority failed and produced only a
dark bitter sirup. The war of the rebellion gave the sorghum industry a new
impetus, our sugar and sirup supply being
cut ofT, the price of these commodities
ruled high. Sorghum sirup sold for $1 50
per gallon at the factory, and 50 cents was
the current prioe for custom work. This
not only stimulated the sorghum industry
but also aroused the dormant energies of
machine men and patent right venders,
who made things quite lively by the untiring, persistent manner in which they
sought out their intended victims. Each
vender claimed to have the best machinery
and the only reliable process for making
sugar and a pure delicious sirup, "just
like honey." All claimed to make sugar
if their directions were strictly followed;
some going so far as to assert that with
their evaporator, and their process, the
manufacturer could turn out sugar, or
sirup, at will, with absolute certainty.
Samples of nice dry sugar were shown
as sorghum sugar, which only contained enough sorghum to flavor it,
the bulk of it being New Orleans sugar.
Vast amounts of sorghum sugar were reported as having been made, always in a
distant part of the oountry, but the man
who made it oould never be found. Some
sugar was made, 'tis true, but as lt could
not be dried At for market, it proved to be
largely grape sugar. The only dry sugar
made from sorghum on record at that
time was made by a sugar refiner In Philadelphia who used lime and bone black in
its manufacture; but as he did not repeat
the experiment proved that it was not a
financial success. These are some of the
events which mark the second epoch ln
the history of sorghum in the United
States which culminated in 1865.—To be
continued.
Written for tbe Indiana Parmer.
Farmers and Organization.
BY R1I.KY   HAI-STKAI).
As yeu suggest in your editorial comments on my former article, the American
farmer has a great advantage over the English peasant in that, without restriction,
he has the ballot aud free schools. Potentially, he is a political sovereign. Agriculturists are able to dictate. They have
the power. But will they use It? Asa
class, they never have used it. True, it
has not appeared until now that there was
any need of it. Farmers, as a class, have
always been satisfied with moderate prosperity, and such has been tho fertility of
this virgin American soil, that with a
touch, Midas-like/it has yielded great products, and with any sort of prices, tbey
have always been able to find the comforts
of life, with some profit each year, and
those who have engaged in it with the
commercial spirit have gained wealth.
Out of this fact arises a misfortune. The
average farmer has become so sublimely
bucolic as to be
INDIFFERENT TO HIS OWN INTEREST.
He is a freeman, of course. The ballot is
in his hands, but it is by no means a panacea for all his ills, and it will not hinder
him from becoming a retainer in the
world's great strife unless he chooses to
use it in his own defense. The agricultural vote seldom involves anything of agricultural Interest. We take concern about
everybody but ourselves. We are always
glad to hear that the "Government at
Washington still lives." We are all statesmen of the higher type. We divide and
subdivide over congressional and senatorial cock fights, and expect to have a good
time when the warriors come home and
tell us how they defended our interests.
It has oome to pass that politicians can
come nearer counting us like the black
and white-speckled cattle in a pen, than
any other class. We have never been
known to break party lines, and crystallize on any special political interest of our
own.
Manufacturing interests have brought
the question of the tariff before the people
and have kept it there fresh through the
Nation's life.
In the statutes of the States are volumes
of special legislation in the Interest of the
railroads. There is an occasional one
against them as a breakwater, but some of
these give evidence of having been made
for effect; for instance, the whistling law
enacted a few years ago, which was so
conscientiously observed by the railroads
of the State, and came near whistling us
all out of house and home. A law which
defeated itself, and produced a lull in the
popular opposition to special traffic rates,
just then arising. It was a legislative
boomerang thrown at long range. The
liquor interest to-day is organized for purposes of protection, and it does not care a
snap for political affiliations, other than
such as will protect the traffic. We make
no complaint against these things. They
are legitimate. It is the genius of the law
that any business has
A RIGHT TO ORGANIZE
and consolidate its forces. But it is certainly true that an unorganized business
is at a disadvantage   in the face ef  them.
t must pay tribute. This is what the
farming class is doing. Commercial forces
are playing the tyrant over us. Our ponderous good nature has brought upon us
abuse. It Is said that in Asia, a hill of
ants will make an elephant go around.
The elephant yields the way not of necessity but because of pluck and diplomacy.
We oould If we would, take to ourselves
another profit on all our products, and
this extra profit coming to us would be a
blessing to all classes. Will we? We are
a long suffering set as our fathers were. It
is the voice of the past that the tiller of the
soil has been first and most woefully oppressed, because of his submissiveness,
and because of the feeling that mother
earth will furnish food, whatever else may
betide. The American farmer must keep
off this perilous ground, and the safer way
is to puta pry under all the processes of approach to lt. Wealth ought to flow to the
oountry rather than the city. It ought to
cover our hills and valleys with fatness
beyond anything ever known. Keep in
mind now, we do not utter the cry of an
oppressed class, we are too strong and
prosperous for that.   But we are a little
TOO 81-OW FOR THE MAIN I'HAN*. K.
The other fellows have the advantage of
us in the bargains we make with them.
To sell our products at cost, or a little less,
is practically to hire ourselves out by the
day.
To illustrate the condition of things :
The writer saw a banker of Indianapolis,
purchase a melon last autumn for 20cents.
Such melons among producers here rated
at two to three cents apiece. A profit of tiOO
to 800|per cent between Terre Haute and In _
dianapolis Is rather steep, (if course the
melon could not be grown for three cents,
neither could the average buyer afford to
pay 20 cents. Many car loads wasted iu
our fields for lack of a market. This condition of things was occasioned by a small
squad of melon merchants getting a "corner" on the market. A single farmer on
the streets with a load of melons, wishing
and waiting for a buyer may wonder
what's the matter, but he will never get a
"corner" on the market. In these days
of remorseless commercial tyranny the
business that gets no "corner" gets left.
Unless the American farmer fixes things
so that he can get his share of the "corners" he will be driven ultimately to the
limbo of financial destruction. "There is
no immediate danger threatening that
should drive him to it," but to be driven
to it y times out of 10 is too late to effect
desirable results. We had better take time
by the forelock and hold on. Let us put
up the defenses. We have the power, let
us exercise It. The way for the elephant
to get a "corner" on the ant hill is to step
on it.
Terre Haute, Ind.
Reports were received of the finding of
three more men in tbe southwestern portion of the State of Kansas, victims of the
recent storm. This makes 24 bodies in all
that have been found. These casualties
occurred ln the sparsely settled country
In the southwestern and western parts of
the State. It is feared that further reports
will Increase more the list of fatalities.
The loss In oattle Is also considered very
heavy.