INVESTIGATIONS AT THE COLLEGE 65 



There followed a comparison of the expenses and 

 returns in the case of the acre of the sorghum raised on 

 the College farm, from which the conclusion was drawn 

 that there should be a profit of $35 per acre. This sur- 

 plus might be increased by an improvement in the 

 yield which it would be possible to obtain, as in some 

 instances the yield had been as high as 240 gallons of 

 syrup per acre. He concludes : 'The presence of a large 

 amount of grape sugar in all the later stages of the 

 Early Amber, as well as of all other varieties of this 

 species, is a serious feature hi the composition of the 

 juice, impairing greatly the chances for a copious sepa- 

 ration of the cane sugar by simple modes of treatment. 

 The necessity of applying more costly apparatus, and 

 engaging skilled labour to secure the larger portion of 

 the cane sugar, if once conceded, places the production 

 of dry sugar from sorghum beyond the scope of general 

 farm enterprise.' 



The above conclusions have stood the test of time, 

 for further attempts to utilize this plant as a commer- 

 cial source of sugar have resulted in failure. 



VH. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CHEMISTRY OF FRUIT 

 CULTURE 1 



First Paper. (Agriculture of Massachusetts, 1879.) 

 Dr. Goessmann opens the paper with a few general 

 statements, bringing out the fact that the principles of 

 fertilization, which had been studied for some time in 

 the case of most of the farm crops, had not received 

 attention as applied to fruits. Neither the chemical 



1 In co-operation with Samuel T. Maynard. 



