Miss Helen Abbott, the eminent authority on plant chemistry, in a lecture given before the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, contends that the failure so far to produce sugar profitably from sorghum, merely imposes new duties on plant chemists, who will inevitably find out how to make it pay, if they persevere. She points out the very successful culture of the beet in France had to go through just the same ordeal. Chemical investigation, aided by the policy of protection to this infant industry, that was established over it by the Napoleonic Government, finally evolved it to complete success, till now it is one of the staple industries of the French nation.

Prof. Harvey W. Wiley has been long in the employ of the Agricultural Department at Washington, endeavoring to master the whole subject of sugar from sorghum. He concludes that the formation of sucrose by the plant is only an accidental or adventitious process, and only occurs from waste material. He concludes from this fact that sugar from sorghum will never be an industry that any one can long engage in, as the results will be more or less accidental. Sometimes plants may yield a good percentage of sugar, at other times none at all. - Independent.