230 MISSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



cut, and taking so small a quantity, I could hardly expect to 

 produce as good an article as I could, had the cane more ma- 

 tured, and in a larger quantity. If the cane I have cut produces 

 no more than that which I have made, it will produce 50 

 gallons, or at the rate of 150 gallons per acre. 



Acton, September 28, 1857. 



HAMPSHIRE. 



Statement of Cummins Fish. 



I have cultivated one-quarter of an acre in sorghum saccha- 

 ratum this season. The land is a mixture of gravel and yellow 

 loam, worth $100 per acre. It was ploughed deep last year, 

 and manured with four loads of -light stable manure, and 

 planted to potatoes. On the 17th of May, 1857, I ploughed in 

 five loads of compost, and afterwards five loads of mixed stable 

 manure, night soil, native guano, ashes and muck. On the 

 23d of- the same month, I planted in hills, six seeds to each, 

 three feet apart in one direction and two feet in the otlier. 

 The plants, like Indian corn, were hoed three times. The 

 canes, although somewhat retarded by moisture, attained an 

 average height of eleven feet. The panicles appeared on the 

 10th of September. 



I made an experiment in feeding cane to my cows, weighing 

 five milkings before and after feeding, and found an increase of 

 ten pounds weight of milk. My canes were ground, and the 

 amount of juice produced was 288 gallons, being at the rate of 

 1,152 gallons to the acre. The sirup obtained from the juice 

 amounted to 36 gallons, being at the rate of 144 gallons to the 

 acre. I obtained no crj^stalized sugar, nor any ripe seeds. 



Value of crop : — 

 3G gallons of molasses, at 75c., . 

 Leaves stripped from canes, 



Expenses : — 

 Manure, ploughing and harrowing, 

 Hoeing, three times, .... 

 Stripping leaves, .... 



