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SCIENTIFIC.
SCIENTIFIC.
-It is reported that work will soon begin on the Cape Cod Canal.
— The Ohio river dam improvements are nearly finished, at a cost of only $12,000. The work was in charge of Capt. Adams.
Thus far the wire cable road across East River bridge is not a smiling success. Theoretically perfect but practically a failure.
—Work on the Panama canal is progressing finely. They have been very fortunate so far, only losing, on an average, one man a day.
The Kansas City, Springfield and Memphis Railroad, which has been under construction for two years, was completed Oct. 11, and favorably opened Oct.25. By this a direct route to the sea is given to the immense granary of eastern Kansas and western Missouri.
At the last meeting of the Engineering Society, A. S. Riffle read the first of a series of papers on the Mississippi Jetties. It showed careful preparation and was quite entertaining, besides being very instructive The beauty of this society is that nothing but original work is permitted to be brought before the students.
In many places the manufacture of gas from sawdust is receiving considerable attention. At Deseronto, Ontario, Mr. Tomlinson has just completed gas works and lighting of the town; the works being erected for the purpose of making gas from fine sawdust. The gas is said to be equal to the best coal gas. We thus see that, in places where there is an abundance of wood and a scarcity of coal, gas can be made very cheaply.
SORGHUM SUGAR.—The Indian millet, cultivated in Asia and Africa where it takes the place of the cereals of the North, is the product from which our sorghum sugar is originated. Prof. Arduino, of Florence, first introduced it into Europe in 1786, but it did not receive much attention until Count de Montegny, French consul to Shanghai, sent some seeds to Paris where they were planted, one germ living, and from this nearly all our sorghum has been produced. It was introduced into the United States in 1856, and in this short time it has been developed to its present importance. The principal centers of this industry are Sterling and Hutchinson, Kansas; Champaign, Illinois, and Rio Grande, N.J. Kansas seems to be taking the lead, Sterling and Hutchinson having the largest mills yet established. Hutchinson turned out its first lot of sugar September 12, and now, by employing 200 men night any day, turns out 20,000 pounds of sugar and 1,600 gallons of syrup, both of which are perfectly free from the usual sorghum taste. Says the Scientific American: "The result at Hutchinson settles all controversy about the possibility of making sugar from sorghum." The Cleveland Ledger also says: "Hutchinson and Sterling will soon be able to supply Kansas with her sugar." It is proposed to make Hutchinson and Sterling the headquarters, while branch mills will be established over the state, which will ship the raw products there for refining. Says President Baker, of Sterling: "The experts who examined the average samples, were surprised to find the purity of the sugar absolutely beyond that of the finest cane sugar of the South." The yield at Sterling