1883.] QUESTION BOX. 255 



of my experiment, and I see so clearly the cause of the fail- 

 ures and the expense that we have been subjected to, that I 

 propose to continue to try it. I am not going to give it up, 

 by any means. 



Mr. Bill. It seems to me I do not get an answer to my 

 question. I would really like to have that question answered. 

 The gentleman is intelligent enough to understand the ques- 

 tion I put to him. 



Mr. Gold. I do not know of any single crop that was 

 raised by any man, stripped, and delivered at the mill, and 

 manufactured, that we could not see places where there could 

 have been a very great improvement, either in the method of cul- 

 ture, in the method of stripping, in the time of boiling, or in 

 something else connected with it, that would have so far va- 

 ried the actual pecuniary result that we are confident that it 

 can be done at very much better rates than we were ena- 

 bled to do it. Now, stripping by hand is a tedious process. 

 I had not men and boys that I could devote to it, and I hired 

 a man that I would not have hired under any other possible 

 conditions to do it. 



Mr. . You are liable to that with all sorts of crops. 



Mr. Gold. Yes, sir, but sorghum was a crop which we 

 did not calculate upon much ; we had not made arrangements 

 for it. I hired a man and paid him just twice as much as his 

 work was worth ; I knew it all the time. 



Mr. Bill. What did it cost ? I am afraid I am not going 

 to get the cost of this article. I want to say a word here. 

 Ten or fifteen years ago I went into it, head over heels, as I 

 generally go into everything. I was sanguine there was 

 money in it. I planted it over and over again ; I believed 

 heartily in it, and I finally came out with the loss of every 

 dollar I had put into it. I have no idea of going into it again ; 

 I don't want to get burned a second time. I think there are 

 other crops to which the soil of Connecticut is adapted that 

 we can raise and make more money upon than we can 

 by contiiiuing in the sorghum business. At the same time, 

 my friend is at liberty to pursue any kind of farming he pleases, 



