INVESTIGATIONS AT THE COLLEGE 63 



sessed an intelligent grasp of the situation, that this 

 work alone was worth to the state the entire cost of the 

 Agricultural College. 



VI. THE VALUE OF EARLY AMBER SORGHUM AS A 

 SUGAR PRODUCING PLANT 



(Sixteenth Report of the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 College, 1879.) This experiment was conducted to ascer- 

 tain the value of the Minnesota Early Amber Sorghum 

 upon the soil of Massachusetts. Seed was secured 

 through the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 and one acre was grown at the College and about 

 twenty acres in the vicinity. The apparatus used for 

 crushing and pressing the cane and evaporating the 

 juice was the same as that used in Minnesota. Only 

 such apparatus and methods were used as could be 

 employed by any intelligent farmer with a moderate 

 outlay of money. 



Dr. Goessmann's part in this experiment was to 

 study the changes which the cane undergoes during 

 the later period of its growth, in order to learn the time 

 when the sugar becomes more prominent in its juice; 

 to ascertain the rate at which this percentage increases, 

 and to determine the particular point in the ripening 

 process of the plant when the largest amount of sugar 

 is present; and to notice finally the changes which the 

 cane subsequently sustains in regard to the quantity 

 and quality of its saccharine matter. 



The results obtained from the cane raised upon the 

 College farm led to the following conclusions: Grape 

 sugar appears at an early stage in the growth of the 



