THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 25 



duce, with equally good treatment, on an equally 

 good soil, from 500 to 1000 pounds. And in 

 order to preserve the sugar-fields from complete 

 barrenness, the government has fitted out and 

 placed at the service of the Patent Ofi&ce a vessel 

 which is to be sent out with a competent agent 

 to procure sugar-cane cuttings from abroad, to 

 stock anew the plantations of the South. 



The new cane, as w^ill be seen, is being fully 

 tested in France by men competent to determine 

 its value, and to whom the public will look with 

 interest, while we shall watch with still greater 

 interest the results of other experiments that 

 wdll be made next sen son in our own country. 

 It has been found, by careful experiment, to 

 yield not only sugar and syrup, but alcohol ; 

 and the juice, when fermented, yields a drink 

 much like cider ; when set with alum, the juice 

 of the husk is said to be good for dyeing, giving 

 a permanent red ; the trash, or waste, after it 

 has been crushed and the juice expressed, will 

 make a good article of paper, while the seed 

 that the plaiit yields possesses fattening proper- 

 ties like rice, and can be profitably fed out to 

 cattle, swine, &c. And this is not all ; it will 

 take the place of all other things for fodder for 

 cattle, either to be fed green or dry, all of 



