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o2 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
matter, as also by a pretty general discussion of the subject by the news- 
paper press of the country. In view of the magnitde of the interests 
involved, and the possibility that in the place of an annual importation 
amounting to from $80,000,000 to $100,000,000, we may within a few 
years not only produce suflicient sugar for our own wants, but become 
one of the sugar-exporting countries of the world, it is therefore not sur- 
prising that this feature of our work the past year should have partially 
overshadowed the remainder. While everything has been done that 
would seem possible under the circumstances to obtain accurate results 
of this important investigation, yet with very imperfect apparatus and 
inferior material the experiments must be acknowledged to be as yet 
incomplete. 
Many practical questions will at once suggest themselves to which the 
. experiments of the Chemical Division afford no precise answer, and we 
must wait, with the hope that during another season we may obtain more 
full and satisfactory replies to most of these undetermined questions, 
among which may be mentioned the following: 
a What variety of corn or sorghum will give the most sugar to the 
acre ? 
2d. What time of cutting gives the best results? 
3d. What soil and mode of culture is best adapted to the production 
of sugar? 
4th. What meteorclogical conditions affect favorably or unfavorably 
the growth of corn, sorghum, or allied plants, for purposes of sugar- 
making ? 
These, with other like questions, it is hoped may be partially answered 
the coming season, and that satisfactory progress may be made toward 
the attainment of the object in view, namely, the production of our own 
sugar. 
That it is quite possible that with certain varieties of corn cultivated in 
some localities sugar may be made with ease by care and skill with the 
ordinary process of expressing the juice and reducing the same, without 
the use of chemicals, is apparent from several letters received upon this 
subject. It is not necessary to cite more than two or three instances. 
Mr. B. F. Taylor, of Victoria, Knox County, Illinois, forwarded to the 
department a sample of sirup, which, when received, was found to be 
more than half crystallized, and in reply to an inquiry as to the details 
of the manufacture of the sirup, sent the following letter. 
It will be observed that he entirely dispensed with chemicals, and in 
many details differed from the method pursued in the experiments made 
at this department, which fact adds interest and encouragement to the 
subject under investigation. The letter referred to is as fellows: 
pee Sime: Your favor of April 29th is before me, and in reply to your questions I 
wow say: 
1st. Ground was a rich prairie loam; has been twenty years under cultivation. The 
rotation was corn, oats, wheat, barley, timothy, and ciover. Nomanure forten years. 
For the last four years it has been in timothy and cut for seed. 
2d. Trench plowed 8 inches deep; seed planted by hand, 3} feet by 20 inches, five 
seed to the hill. This cane has neversuckered withme. Planted June 10th; plowed 
three times with two-horse cultivator. Hoed twice while small. 
od. Cut from 15th to 20th of September; seed had been ripe for some time. The 
stalks lay in a large pile in mill-yard nearly a month—fully three weeks. Stalks when 
cut showed a light golden color. 
4th. Used a three-roller iron mill and two-horse power. As to the per cent. of juice, 
I cannot say, as we have no means of weighing either. I had half an acre of cane, 
and had 115 gallonsof such sirupasIsent you. Five stalks were stripped and topped 
to the second joint while standing in the field, and they were cut and hauled immedi- 
ately. The juice, after crushing, was run into a vat, and from there pumped intoa 
heater and brought almost to the boiling point, keeping it skimmed the while. After 
