CHINESE SUGAR CANE. 233 



Throu<2;li the LinJness of Mr. Isaac Guiin and Kelita Hubbard) 

 the mill and apparatus cost me nothing. 



Sunderland, October 16, 1857. 



HOUSATONIC. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



"We now come to a most interesting department of agricul- 

 tural enterprise — the culture of the Chinese sugar cane — ren- 

 dered still more interesting by the very valuable report of one 

 of the exhibitors, Samuel H. Bushnell, Esq., of Sheffield, 

 whose skill and success, as manifested by his statement, entitle 

 him to no ordinary measure of honor, and your committee 

 deem his report worth more than any premium this society 

 could bestow. It is fi-om such reports that light must emanate, 

 to guide us in the culture of productions newly introduced, 

 and that require to be tested, in order to ascertain their value 

 and the best methods of treatment and manufacture. We 

 most gladly avail ourselves of the permission granted, of 

 embodying his statement in our report, which is, in effect, as 

 follows : — 



" I herewith present, for your examination, three samples of 

 molasses made from the Chinese sugar cane. No. 1 was made 

 the 9th of September, before the seed or head appeared, and while 

 the cane was very green. It has a strong, acid flavor, which 

 would be corrected by the further maturing of the cane ; but, 

 as it is, renders the article worthless, [we think that is too 

 unfavorable an expression — he should have said inferior instead 

 of worthless.] No. 2 was made the 15tli — six days later. The 

 seed or head had now appeared. This is a better article than 

 No. 1, though it has some of that acidity peculiar to immature 

 fruit. No. 3, made the 22d, yesterday, seven days later still, 

 is a very good article of molasses. The cane is still too green — 

 only in blossom. I think the seed should be ripe, or nearly so, 

 to make good sirup. For extracting the juice, I used a cheap, 

 simple machine, of my own make and invention, with which 

 two men will press out the juice as fast as three men will strip 

 off the leaves and put it through the machine. 



