SORGHUM IN THE SOUTH; Part IV

presented by Gary Dean Gardner, Independent Scholar

The following is a transcription of a fascinating period article on sorghum as it appeared in the official Report by the Kentucky State Agricultural Society for 1857.  Not commonly available to scholars, I am offering it “as written” as a contemporary statement to accompany my own previous work on this history of early sorghum experimentation here in the Commonwealth, for it offers an intriguing insight into the introduction of this now common staple and the overall agrarian and food culture of the lower & upper south of the middle 19^th century.  Interestingly, the author is a Mercer County, Kentucky woman, Maria Burton Thompson Daviess (erroneously initialed Mrs. M. J. rather than Mrs. M. T. Daviess).  Here she relates to a rather scientific audience her accounts concerning the rare finds of an antebellum Southern woman in conducting agricultural experimentation where generally such a realm was reserved specifically for the male landed gentry of that day.  As you read, do keep in mind that Maria, when speaking of men, women, and children working in the sorghum-making process, is referring not to her family or neighbors, but rather to enslaved labor.  We must recall that she reflects the culture and morals of her time, in a region where the economy was based upon slavery and the profits derived from it.  Most fascinating is her clear relationship with both the women and men at the Shaker community of Pleasant Hill, and the unusual acceptance by the male farm managers in working with Maria.  It should be remembered that the Shakers were ahead of their time in establishing the equality of women in work, politics, and overall society.  And, while perhaps irritating to some modern readers, I have left Mrs. Daviess’ spelling, and extensive comma use, as written.  My only editing consisted of the inclusion of a few missing hyphens and the clarification of a single misspelled word.

Maria Daviess won a $20 prize in the form of a coin silver pitcher for her essay on "Chinese Molasses" in the 1857 "South Western Agricultural and Mechanical Association" fair. Her prize, now unaccounted for, was a duplicate of this example by Louisville, Kentucky silversmith John Kitts which was awarded the prior year to essayist Arthur Peter for his 1856 winning entry on "Fruit & Fruit Trees of Kentucky."

Maria's exploits in crop diversity during the 1850s had remained virtually unknown to most historians and scholars until now.  She is best remembered for her classic History of Mercer and Boyle Counties, originally published as a series of articles, but printed as a book by the Harrodsburg Herald in 1924.  Maria Burton Thompson, daughter of John Burton and Anne Porter Robards Thompson, was born in Harrodsburg 31^st October 1814.  She married Major William Newton Daviess on 24^th October 1839, and died in Mercer County 21^st December 1896.

Thank you Jerry Sampson for your assistance in preparing this!

Daviess Home in Harrodsburg, KY

A Familiar Essay on the Cultivation, Uses, Etc., of Chinese Sugar Cane, by Mrs. M. J. Daviess, of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, October 5^th, 1857.

The result of a few days labor in syrup making from this plant, has satisfied the writer that when the concurrent testimony from experimenters from various sections of the country shall be made known, the success of the season will be so astonishing, that information will be sought, or on no other agricultural subject with the same eagerness and earnestness.  This plant, like other of the rarest luxuries we possess, and the higher blessings of our spiritual nature, is another blessing from the oriental world.  It is to France0 ever the pioneer of science and civilization- we owe the introduction of this plant to the wester world; or, rather, a revival of the knowledge of its existence; for there seems to have been a series of attempts, from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century, to produce sugar from it made in the Italian provinces.  In examining an elaborate history of China lately, I find Millet mentioned as one of the productions of the country, but no mention made of its peculiar qualities.  M. Matigny, and Agent of the Geographical Society of France, found it in use in the northern part of China, one of the doubtless many valuable things locked up by the jealous policy of the Celestials from their ever intrusive and, as they consider, barbarous western neighbors.

To the beneficence of our own general government we are indebted for this plant in the United States.  For some years past Congress has made a commendable appropriation for the purchase of foreign seeds and plants for general distribution and experiment.  The value of this one plant, entitled to rank at once as a staple, and destined to work an important change in the commercial relations of the country, will amply reimburse the outlay of this department and vindicate the policy of the government, even to the most economical and censorious of the vigilant guardians of its Treasury.  Mr. Brown, the Agent of the Agricultural Department found this plant in France and sent it over, in his collections, to the patent office.  It is evidently of the same botanic family to which our common Broom and Dourah Corn belong, hybridizes with them readily, and has their botanical names Holens Saccharatus, Sorgum Saccharatum, etc., etc., variously assigned to it.  Lately several new kinds have been introduced from Africa, under the name of Imphee, which, with the species previously known, makes some thirty varieties.  But, from careful comparison of different statements, and from the similarity of plants raised from seeds produced in different sections of our own country, I am satisfied there is no essential difference in quality, save that produced by climate- Chinese Sugar Cane, like all saccharine plants, increasing in richness as it nears its tropical nativity.  It acclimates itself, however, readily to any latitude where Indian corn will grow, dwarfing in size as plants from warm climates to in colder latitudes.  It was first distributed in 1854, and it as, considering its value and the weight of foreign testimony in its favor, gained ground very slowly.  But the morus multicaulis mania, the hen fever, and Chines potato humbug, have so debilitated public faith, that, instead of receiving and trying with wise caution the novelties each season offers, the masses are disposed to reject and ridicule every thing not know to their fathers before them.  Thus, the south has suffered, year after year, the disastrous effects of drouth and frost, while the ready resource of Chinese sugar was at their doors; prices of all saccharine products have risen to a value that amounts almost to a prohibition of their use to the poor, and yet sugar cane, instead of having a fair trial in our fields, continues to be, in many minds, quite as suggestive of humbug as syrup.

In running over the reports to the Patent Office and newspaper clippings, I find that, from St. Paul, Minnesota, to the neighborhood of New Orleans, the plant has been grown, and, in some cases at northern points, has ripened its seed.  The latter point is not, however, essential to the manufacture of the syrup, but the strong presumption is, that where the summer not long enough to ripen the seed, the saccharine qualities are not rich enough to be valuable as a sugar crop.  In several of the states intermediate between these points, persons have experimented, and in all cases have report favorably to its growth.

CULTIVATION.

In France and her Algerian possessions, the plant, like all other field crops, has been chiefly cultivated with spade and hoe, and treated with manures, irrigation, etc.  There, as here, it suckers freely, and is deprived of the offset, and it is recommended, when seed is not an object, to cut off the panieles so soon as they appear.  Our northern and eastern farmers make mention, as usual, in their agricultural reports, of the manures used- bone dust, guano, etc., etc.  Such application might prove valuable even here, but I presume none will be found necessary beyond the usual rotation of crops practiced.  Neither France nor own eastern brethren mention an average of stalks so tall or large in diameter as has been generally produced in this section on ordinary ground, without any especial favor.  It is presumable that, in any corn growing region, ground prepared as for that staple, and the seen planted in hills or drills wide enough apart to permit the use of the plow, will be found a satisfactory mode of cultivation.  The seen should be planted as early as possible, to avoid the frost, (the plants being tender in their first stage,) but the earlier, with safety, the better, as it gives a longer chance to work up the crop after maturity.  If planted in hills, two stalks should be left to the hill; in drills, the plants should be left eighteen inches apart.  The plants, when they first appear, are scarcely distinguishable from grass, and require careful attention to prevent the overgrowth of weeds before the plow can be used.  After that the cultivation of cane differs no way from corn, and its thrift will soon show what care has been given it.  In later stages of growth, a casual observer would hardly notice the difference between the field of can and corn, but the stalks are slender, the joints longer, the leaves narrow and more flexuous, the seen heads resembling Dourah corn, but erect, and when ripe, jet black.  The stalks are covered with a white substance, which has a frosty appearance and which chemical analysis has proved to be wax.

The piece of ground cultivated on our homestead was a hill side, sloping westward.   The seeds planted were procured from several sections of the country, but chiefly from the Patent Office.  The ground was well prepared and sowed in drills, June 8^th.  The plants were very much neglected when they first came up, but had afterwards the best tilth by plow and hoe.  They were carefully suckered, though at seems, from conflicting statements, a doubtful practice, (certainly not advisable if raised for forage).  On some plants overlooked, the suckers grew as tall as the stock plant and bore see, but stock and sucker were inferior in size and height to the plants where were deprived of the offset.  Some of the plants have measured eighteen feet in height and one and a half inches in diameter; the average height of the canes is about fifteen feet, and one inch in diameter.  Not one-half of the seeds have ripened at this date.  The panicles weight about one half pound and would fill a half pint.  The cane is apparently hardier than the corn, presenting a vivid contrast to the corn fields, the leaves of the cane, though scorched, retaining a strong, green color, while the corn is perfectly seared and dry.  The cane, however, has become very brittle and is dying rapidly, without any perceivable dimunition [sic] (diminution) in the quantity of juice, or change in the flavor, from the tow frosts that have fallen.

USES AND VALUE.

Notwithstanding the recent revival of the use of this plant in Europe, and its introduction into our country, it has been already ascertained to be capable of manufacture into several articles, and of course possesses a variety of values.  Giving, in our references, the precedence to France, as she deserves, for her prompt and laborious investigation on this subject, I find she givers in her testimony in favor of the Chinese Sugar Cane, as a plant of immense use for a foraging crop, and as of surpassing value as a syrup producing plant.  Likewise, that is will probably be of vast service in shielding the bread crops from the distiller’s grasp, as it yields a larger percentage of alcohol than any cereal used hitherto.  Recently they have succeeded n making sugar, but not so successfully as some of our home experimenters.  It has been used as a fermented liquor, and considered as agreeable as cider, and may also be used for vinegar.  Brandy, in combination with the grape stems, has been manufactured from it of superior quality.  The seeds have been converted into chocolate, and their husks into dye for silks; and one experimenter ahs succeeded in procuring from it such large quantities of wax, that he thinks that product, alone, would justify its cultivation.  In the United States, unless in this season, its value has not been tested, except as a forage crop and syrup producing plant.  Its value for forage has been highly extolled in all sections of our country, especially in those regions, where the severity of the winter makes that species of food indispensable.  It is said to contain ten per cent more of nutritive matter than Indian corn, and has produced from five to nine tons of feed to the acre.  Indeed, the Algerians consider the plant as perennial, and in South Europe, and in the same latitude of the United States, it produces two or three vigorous growths the same season.  It is though, by early planting in the sugar growing districts of the Union, two crops might be produced in a season, for syrup-making.  I observe that where a few stocks were cut for experiment, in August they are shooting up luxuriantly, which affords fair ground for conclusion, that the aftermath, even in this State, after manufacturing the first crop, would prove a good resource for stock from our dry fall pastures.  Poultry eat the seed with great avidity, and the seed heads would be managed easily for cow food, as they would require no preparation, before boiling, in the way of cutting or grinding.  The hardness of the stock would seem to render cooking necessary to the use of this plant for stock food, in order to render it easily digestible.  But, the chief value to the United States of the Chinese Sugar Cane, is its qualities as a sugar plant.  At the North it will not be in this use valuable; to the South, it will stand, if the seed are kept on hands, as an unfailing resource, when frost has cut off the common cane.  To the corn and cotton growing regions it supplies a desideratum a want severely felt in late years, while all sweets have ruled so high.  Families of competent means, of course, have not been curtailed of their luxuries, by high prices, but our laborers have felt the privation severely; and considerate master, even if not moved by the higher motive of promoting human happiness, will find it, in a sanitary and economical view, it is best to add a little field of Sorgo to their other annual crops, for home consumption.  The thrift of negroes, in sugar season, has passed into a proverb in the South, and of late years the vapors from the sugarhouse have begun to emulate Hunter’s inhalents [sic] as a remedy for consumption.  The use of molasses, as an inducement for the less free use of animal food, has been a part of the economy of many well regulated western farms for years.  It is well known, the use of pork is considered by intelligent medical mean, as the cause of the very common prevalence of scrofula and cachexia, in that class of our population.

EXPERIMENTS

Since the introduction of this plant, in 1854, into this country, in various parts, it has been tested with different contrivances of power, from the rolling pin and pastry board up to the best quality of small iron mills.  The results from the use of the last class of machinery has been known, up to this fall, chiefly from Dr. Peters, of Georgia, who has done the country incalculable service, in pioneering the way of his countrymen into a new field of agricultural wealth.  In every experiment, by every power, however contemptible, the result has been successful, and as enormous as seemed Dr. Peters’ calculation, (from five to six hundred gallons per acre) the last few days has proved to my mind satisfactorily that his figures are not exaggerated, and I doubt not many, ere this, in the South, could add their testimony to his.  As the press is teeming every day with new publications on this subject, *unfortunately too many the growth only of bookmakers’ brains,) the writer deems it unnecessary to lengthen this essay by a list of names and methods.  She has briefly run over whatever in the history and habits of this plant she has gleaned from newspapers and Patent office reports, that others less sanguine than herself have not thought worth remembering, but since the fruits of this season warrant the belief of its wonderful usefulness and adaptedness to our climate, would now be interested to know, without the labor of collecting.  I will, therefore, proceed to give the familiar details of our experiment in Sorgo Sucre, (the manufacturing part having been under my personal supervision,) because I believe that the experiment of one in the same climate, in the same condition of things, with only the ordinary household conveniences, will afford greater inducements to one to embark in the enterprise, than the most elaborate directions of the most scientific chemist in the country.

Rock fences dividing the pastures at Shakertown of Pleasant Hill near Harrodsburg, KY

Another reason for venturing this familiar paper before so grave and respectable a body, is that circumstances have favored her with as exact knowledge as personal observation, of the method practiced by the Friends, or Pleasant Hill, Mercer county, Kentucky, could give.  The known character of this Society as farmers, and the established reputation of the Sisters in all housekeeping matters, will be a warrant to all, of the goodness of the method adopted, after bringing the science of an excellent chemist and the skill of constant experience to bear on it.  It is well known the Sisters of this Industrial Society spend their summers in manufacturing tons of preserves, jellies, etc., as celebrated as the cattle, which are the pride and care of the brethren.  The above reasons have satisfied me to submit this essay, hastily written, amid the cares of a large family. To which, at present, is added the supervision of a new branch of industry; and the motive of public good which has prompted it, I trust, will excuse all marks of literary inability; provided, after testing the products accompanying this, the Society deem proper to send it out, with their endorsement, to the people of Kentucky.  And now, before I proceed to the details of my experiment, I must answer one question which will arise in many minds- How comes this agricultural experiment to go out to the world in the name of a woman, the wife of a living, practical farmer?  I answer, I am one of the daughters of Eve, whose lord elect allows full privilege to follow her fancy; that having had the cane  cultivated for my gratification, when he found it promising, he ordered an inexpensive mill for the experiment, and when the success of the Shakers proved it valuable, made things as convenient as possible for my use; and then, having no experience in kettles or clarifiers, vacated the temporary sugar house, leaving me a dominion wide enough to satisfy any woman’s ambition, seeing it is all out of doors.

The mill, which had been ordered, came to us the middle of August.  It was made by a neighboring cooper, who had seen corn stalk mills in the primitive days of our Commonwealth; price $20.  But this cost would be lessened half by any workman having implements suitable for the job.  The mill is composed of two cylinders, about two feet long and something less in diameter, placed firmly in a stout wooden frame; the upper part of one enters into a sweep, which curves downward; the cylinders have each a set of cogs around the top; the one attached to the sweep turns the other, and the canes are pressed between them.  One horse turns the mill, and having a lead pole attached, no driver is needed.  About six stalks, one above the other, are passed through the mill at a time; the stalks being stripped of leaves and the seed cut off, one person feeds the mill and another receives the bagasse,- as the pressed stalks are termed,- lays them in straight order, and returns them to the feeder.  They are twisted, two or three together, and passed at once through the mill a second time.  Having pressed about two dozen stalks, to test our mill before receiving it, we found ourselves possessed of a bucket of green, disgusting juice.  After straining, clarifying and reducing it, by boiling, we found it had made about one quart of fair looking, disagreeably flavored molasses.  A few days after, one of the managers of Pleasant Hill called to arrange with us for the use of our mill.  We cheerfully agreed to let them precede us in the trial, and having been invited to pass a day with them, seeing the syrup manufacture in every stage of process, we were delighted and elated to find their success complete, and thought no delicacy of the kind had ever proved more tempting than their syrup spread over their delicious butter and unrivalled bread.  The mill was returned to us in improved condition, and a day or two after, Mr. Bryant called with a bottle of syrup, fair flavored, and about the consistency of honey.  I likewise obliged us with written directions, which I have followed, verbatim, in making the article accompanying this paper, which is as follows:

Into four galls of juice, fresh from the press, stir, while cold, one pint of sweet milk, two whites of eggs, beaten, two spoonsful of lime, mixed with water to the consistency of cream.  Set it over a brisk fire, and do not disturb it until it boils.  Then take it off the fire quickly, and after it ahs stood twenty minutes, skim it and put it into tubs.  After twenty-four hours, strain it into kettles, and to each four gallons allow one egg, and one spoonful of lime, to finish purifying.  Boil down to the consistency you like, skimming clear, but is considered finished when the syrup hangs from the ladle, in flakes.

A primitive form sorghum cane press

September 29^th, 1857, we commenced operations, and this, October 4^th, I note the following items:  That having the cane previously stripped, that a boy and two-horse wagon can draw in what cane the mill will grind, in about four hours.  Distance of field from the mill about one eighth of a mile.  That a stout active man is best to feed the mill, as the yield of juice, after the first pressure, depends on the bagasse being well twisted.  A child of ten years can cut of the heads as fast as required for the mill.  A child of the same capacity can receive, straighten and return the bagasse to the feeder.  One woman, with the occasional help of another, to strain, has run our four kettles, of about eighteen gallons each.  The wood being beside them, and the kettles in a good home-built furnace.  Every stalk passed through the mill yields about one pint of juice, the second pressure equal in quantity to the first and superior in quality.  That six gallons of juice makes one gallon of plantation molasses, and rather less of golden syrup; that molasses may be made in about eight hours direct from the press, but a fine syrup cannot be furnished in less than two days; that the yield of juice is greater from green stalks than ripe, but the produce of molasses about equal.  Fine syrup can only be produced from ripe cane.  That the clearness of the syrup depends upon its being allowed time to settle fully, rather than on a specific clarifier used.  That with the fixtures and force we have mentioned, working steadily for about ten hours, we turned off about ten gallons of syrup each day.  We would prefer shallow kettles, and think the superior fairness of the Shaker syrup was owing to its speedier evaporation, and that in copper kettles.  The above data will furnish items for calculations for home enterprise.  Our acre of Sorgo will yield us two hundred gallons of syrup, half of which could have been engaged to day, had it been for market, at the price of golden syrup.

Whether it shall become one of our staple crops, is a problem for intelligent farmers to work out, but nothing but culpable indifference to the wants of his laborers, and want of energy will prevent any farmer from having the product of Sorgo as abundant in his family as the fruits of his orchard and dairy.

By planting as early as the first of May, the Sorgo season will come on just at the close of harvest, and the leisure weeks between that and seeding time cannot possibly be more profitably spent.  With her fat herds and teeming fields, happy homes, embosomed in fruitful orchards and flowery gardens, Kentucky needed but sugar-cane to make her what her children have ever loved to boast her- the Garden of the World.  MTD