1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



165 



though some grew as high as fifteen feet. The 

 plant may be not only produced from the seed, 

 but the roots may be protected so that it will grow 

 several years, and thus it may be called a peren- 

 nial. If sown in drills like corn, the product will 

 be much like corn ; if sown in April it will be five 

 ' feet high in July, and may be cut as fodder, and 

 the stubble will spring up and give a second crop 

 in October, thus producing twice as much as corn 

 in our latitude. Mr. D. J. Browne, of the Patent 

 Office at Washington, says that five cuttings have 

 been made in Florida the last year, and that three 

 cuttings were made in Georgia. The weight of 

 the crop when green has been as high as 83,250 

 pounds per acre. In the hot and dry part of the 

 summer season, when corn droops and folds up its 

 leaves, the Chinese sugar cane grows even more 

 vigorously. It grows slowly at first, but will soon 

 outstrip every species of corn. Although it may 

 be produced the second year from the roots of the 

 former year, that is not recommended as the best 

 way of cultivating it ; it is better to plant the seed 

 every year. The soil should be plowed deep, using 

 the subsoil plow, and the earth between the rows 

 should be stirred deeply during the season. When 

 sowed in drills the rows should be three feet apart, 

 and from sixteen (o twenty seeds dropped to a 

 foot, covering them about half an inch only. It is 

 well to steep the seed in a weak solution of saltpe- 

 tre for twenty-four hours, and then roll in plaster 

 before sowing. Bone dust, genuine guano, super- 

 phosphate of lime and wood ashes are all valuable 

 as manures for it. Great care is required to cure 

 it in the fall. It should be cut when the tempera- 

 ture is from forty to forty-five degrees. 



As to its value as fodder for milk cows, Mr. 

 Whitney, of Washington, had found it to increase 

 the cream but not the quantity of milk ; but Mr. 

 Richardson, of Townsend, Mass., found it valuable 

 to increase the quantity of milk as well as the qual- 

 ity. It is especially adapted to fattening stock, and 

 will be a mine of wealth to graziers, said the lec- 

 turer. It should be cut and dried a few days be- 

 fore it is fed, as it scours animals too much to feed 

 it green. It should not be planted so thick as 

 some have recommended. In an experiment where 

 it was planted two feet apart, and six stalks to a 

 hill, an enormous growth of stalks was obtained, 

 • but the whole was blown down because too frail 

 to support itself. In another case where it was 

 planted four feet apart, and only from two to four 

 stalks in a hill, it stood well, and every stalk ri- 

 pened. 



The seed and its uses were next spoken of. When 

 ripe, the seed is of a dark purple color, and it may 

 be stripj)ed from the stalks by a broom corn ma- 

 chine. Horses and poultry are very fond of it. 

 There is little doubt that the seed may become, in 

 a short time, as plentiful as oats, and for various pur- 



poses, it will be found more valuable. Col. Peters, 

 of Atlanta, Ga., obtained twenty-five bushels to the 

 acre, which weighed thirty-six pounds to the bush- 

 el. Some specimens of the seed have been known 

 to weigh forty-eight pounds to the bushel. From 

 the hull a fine carmine color has been obtained for 

 dyeing. The lecturer exhibited several specimens 

 of coloring matter that he had obtained from the 

 seed, to show the possibility that the coloring prop- 

 erty of the seed may prove a source of additional 

 value to the plant. Another of the properties of 

 the seed, for which it is believed it may be of great 

 value, is the large quantity of alcohol which it con- 

 tains. There may also be obtained from the stalk 

 a kind of gum, which, when mixed with purified tal- 

 low, burns wiih a clear, brilliant light — and is used 

 for the purpose of lighting apartments in the north 

 of China. The lecturer exhibited some of this pre- 

 pared gum, and ignited it to show its illuminating 

 power ; at the same time he expressed doubts wheth- 

 er it could ever be obtained in such quantities and 

 with such facility as to make it profitable. But as 

 a source of alcohol, the seed will probably prove 

 very valuable. From sixteen to twenty per cent, 

 may be obtained from it. The alcohol thus obtained 

 has been sold in the market of Marseilles, without 

 exciting the suspicion that it was not derived from 

 the common sources. If this plant can thus be made 

 useful, should we not, as philanthropists, and on 

 strict grounds of political economy, desire that it 

 may take the place of our present cereals for this 

 purpose, so that our wheat, corn, rye and barley 

 may be saved from an unworthy fate, and become 

 more plentiful as food for man and beast ? Vin- 

 egar also, in considerable quantities, may l)e made 

 from the stalks after the juice has been expressed. 

 Mr. D. J. Browne, of the Patent Office, says fifteen 

 hundred gallons of vinegar may be made from the 

 product of one acre. 



The value of the plant for the production of su- 

 gar only, was next spoken of. The proportions of 

 the crystallizable syrup contained in the plant de- 

 pend much upon the latitude and upon the dry- 

 ness or moisture of the soil where it is cultivated, 

 and also, still more upon the processes of manufac- 

 ture. The plant thrives best with a hot sun, and 

 on a moderately rich soil. To produce the greatest 

 amount of sugar, the stalks should have the seed 

 pannicles cut or broken off before they come to 

 maturity, in order that the vigor of the plant may 

 be concentrated in the production of sap in the stalk. 

 The amount of saccharine matter contained in the 

 stalks varies from fourteen to twenty per cent. The 

 per centage, by weight, of the sap, depends upon 

 the mill. Eighty-four and a half per cent, has been 

 obtained, and seventy per cent, should generally be 

 expected. Supposing that ten or fifteen per cent, 

 of this is migar, the valuable properties of the plant 

 will at once be seen. Some of the jjrocesses for ex- 



