THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 31 



The cane attained the height of ten and a half 

 feet. 



I tried my first experiment with the cane the 

 last of September, and found the juice was thin 

 and less rich than at a later period. After ex- 

 pressing the juice, which is of a light green 

 color and nearly as thin as milk, I put it imme- 

 diately over a slow fire, without putting anything 

 into it to clarify it. As it gradually warmed, 

 I removed the green scum that rose on the sur- 

 face, until it boiled, and there was no further 

 need of skimming. I let it boil until four fifths 

 had evaporated, and then turned it off to cool. 

 The result was a very nice syrup. 



In the second experiment I took the cane 

 about the tenth of October, and expressed the 

 juice as before, putting it over a slow fire and 

 gradually raising to the boiling point, this time 

 putting in a small quantity of lime-water, both 

 to aid in purifying and to neutralize the acid 

 which the juice contains. This time the juice 

 appeared and proved much richer than before. 

 The same process of skimming was carried on, 

 and I obtained a much larger proportion of syrup 

 and of a better quality, such as I have described 

 on a former page. Subsequent to this I tried 

 another experiment with the juice, and proceeded 



