CHINESE SUGAR CANE. 225 



knife ? When its yield of molasses was contrasted with that 

 of corn stalks, was the maturity of each equal, not the age ? In 

 the comparison of its value for fodder, how mature was the 

 cane ? and among other facts, was it taken into consideration 

 that the cane sprouts readily when cut ? 



The results made public, disparaging to the cane, given with- 

 out details, are unreliable and consequently worthless, when 

 such elements of error may be blended with them. Certainly, 

 before we can form any positive opinion of the comparative 

 merits of this sugar cane, we need thorough, accurate experi- 

 ments, from reliable sources. However, time must determine 

 its merits ; as with other new products so with this, amid 

 bungling and blundering, experience will grow apace, and 

 Yankee inquisitiveness and perseverance will in the end assign 

 it its place in our agriculture, when the old aphorism, " what 

 every body says must be true," will tell us what it is worth. 



James J. H. Gregory, Chairman. 



Statement of David Choate. 



The land upon which I cultivated the Chinese Sugar Cane, 

 was the last two years in corn. Before that I had raised pota- 

 toes for four years, with the exception of one year, when it was 

 in wheat. It is loamy and has a southerly exposure. It is 

 early land, being dry almost as soon as it is done raining. I 

 manured my sugar cane land first with stable manure, and 

 ploughed it in at the rate of four cords to the acre. The 

 ground was furrowed at such distances as to admit of thirty 

 hills to a square rod, on the 18th of May. I then put one 

 table-spoonful of guano in each hill, and covered it with a small 

 shovel full of well rotted, but not strong manure. On the 19th 

 and 20tli of the month, the seed was covered on about two- 

 thirds of the land, and the planting was fi.nished on the 25th. 

 A cold rain storm on the 21st, delayed the planting, but there 

 was but little difference in the height of the same after a few 

 days. The seed started quick, and I could see no difference 

 between the kind obtained of Mr. Flint, Secretary of our State 

 Board of Agriculture, and that sent me from the Patent Office 



