We make the following abstracts from the report:

The sorghum plant was introduced into the United States in 1853-54, by
the Patent Office, which then embraced all there was of the United
States Department of Agriculture. Its juice was known to be sweetish,
and chemists were not long in discovering that it contained a
considerable percentage of some substance giving the reactions of cane
sugar. The opinion that the reactions were due to cane sugar received
repeated confirmations in the formation of true cane sugar crystals in
sirups made from sorghum. Yet the small amounts that were crystallized,
compared with the amounts present in the juices as shown by the
analyses, led many to believe that the reactions were largely due to
some other substance than cane sugar.

During the years 1878 to 1882, inclusive, while Dr. Peter Collier was
chief chemist of the Department of Agriculture, much attention was given
to the study of sorghum juices from canes cultivated in the gardens of
the department at Washington. Dr. Collier became an enthusiastic
believer in the future greatness of sorghum as a sugar producing plant,
and the extensive series of analyses published by him attracted much
attention.

As a result large sugar factories were erected and provided with costly
appliances. Hon. John Bennyworth erected one of these at Larned, in
Kansas. S.A. Liebold & Co. subsequently erected one at Great Bend.

Sterling and Hutchinson followed with factories which made considerable
amounts of merchantable sugar at no profit.

The factory at Sterling was erected by R.M. Sandy & Co., of New Orleans,