c7-


 Lesser Importations





D ESPITE an increasing demand for sugar, its production in the
United States continued to decline during the Civil War and the
decade following. Most of the sugar up to this time had been
processed from sugar cane. But the stocks of sugar cane deteriorated
more rapidly than they could be replaced by the search for new,
hardy varieties.
 CHINESE SORGHUMS
 In an effort to step up sugar production, the industry turned
to sorgos. Chemists searched for a method of refining sugar from
the Chinese sugar cane (black amber cane), one of the first sorgo
imports, and the Department of Agriculture introduced other
sorgos for experiment. More than forty million gallons of syrup
were produced from the Chinese sorgo in 1862, and two mills
manufactured paper from the fiber. No quantity of sugar could
be refined from the cane, however, and in 1864 Commissioner
Newton sent an agent to China to secure fresh seed and to explore
for new varieties. Newton believed that the Chinese sorgo had
deteriorated through hybridization with broom corn, and that new
varieties and information on the Chinese processes of sugar-
making might be helpful.
 The varieties Newton's agent brought back were not successful
so experiments were continued chiefly with the varieties intro-
duced in 1857 by Leonard Wray, and the Chinese sorgo which
had been imported in 1854. Wray had brought several varieties
from Natal, South Africa, via Europe at the request of Horace
Greeley. The original variety names have been lost, but they came
to be cultivated widely for syrup and grain.
 State experiment stations and individuals also were busy breed-
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