VARIETIES OF THE IMPHEE. 207 
points. My Zulus have told me, that under favorable cir- 
cumstances, the Nee-a-za-na frequently ripens in seventy- 
five days; and my head man (a most intelligent native 
plowman) declares that he has had them from his own 
land as sweet as any sugar cane. From my own actual 
experience, I found that they ripened in about three 
months, and that they were the softest and most abound- 
ing in juice of any. With my mill I obtained sey- 
enty per cent. of juice, much still remaining in the trash, 
and the saccharometer showed fifteen per cent. of sugar 
after cold defecation. This then for Huropean culture, 
is a perfect gem of a plant, one which will be anxiously 
sought after, and very generally cultivated, throughout 
Kurope at least. In two months after the first cuttings, 
I have had the rattoons six feet high and in flower. The 
Nee-a-za-na is a very small sized variety, but tillers out 
greatly, having sometimes fifteen stalks for one root. I 
have had its stalks varying from four ounces to upwards 
of twelve ounces in weight ; but they do grow rather larger 
than this. It always appeared to me that their juice was 
more mucilaginous and abounding in feculze than the two 
varieties I have just mentioned. The seed-head is very 
bushy and bunchy, and when thoroughly ripe, the seeds 
are large, round and plump. 
‘‘ Boom-vwa-na” is a most excellent and valuable va- 
riety; of which I have eaten single pieces, containing cer- 
tainly two or three per cent. more sugar than the average 
juice obtained from-large bundles of stalks, taken as 
they come. This average juice never contained less than 
fifteen per cent. of sugar, as indicated by the saccharom- 
eter, after the raw juice had been sold defecated; and 
