212 THE TIM BUNKER PAPERS. 



the plow, was a good deal of an undertaking. It was 

 agreed to appoint a committee for each school district, to 

 see how much could be raised. There were fifteen dis 

 tricts in the town, and it would take about twenty acres 

 to each district. Mr. Spooner took the matter in hand in 

 his district, and worked as hard as any of us. Some sub 

 scribed two acres, and some a half acre. We raised about 

 three quarters of the pledges here, and for the rest we had 

 to go to Shadtown. 



The results of the winter s work are, that we have a 

 wonderful increase of sorghum in all this region. A patch 

 may be found on all the best farms and on some of the 

 poor ones, and even in the gardens of the mechanics. A 

 quarter of an acre of sorghum will make a barrel of syrup, 

 if it does only moderately well. We shall not have syrup 

 enough to supply the town, perhaps, but we shall give the 

 business a good start, and wake up the sleepers. I should 

 not think it strange if we became exporters of syrup in a 

 few years, and Connecticut syrup may yet stand as high 

 in the market as Connecticut River shad. The mill is all 

 up, and the machinery in, and they will be ready to grind 

 as soon as the cane is fit. I do not see any reason why 

 New England should not raise its own molasses. We have 

 plenty of unoccupied land, and capital to invest in the 

 crop and in mills to manufacture it. All that is needed 

 is a few individuals in each town to talk the matter up, 

 and show how it can be done. There must be concert of 

 action, and then the whole business will go easy. The 

 sorghum is coming into favor much more rapidly than the 

 potato did, and it would not be strange if it wrought as 

 great changes in our husbandry. 



Yours to command, 



TIMOTHY BUNKER, ESQ. 



Hookertown, Sept. 10th, 1863. 



