38 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 



winter, some seeds of what is commonly called 

 sugar- millet. He very kindly gave me enough to 

 XDlant half an acre, — about a pint. I prepared a 

 plot of ground on a northern slope of old, stiff, 

 worn-out land, in such a manner and with so much 

 manure as would probably have made it yield, 

 with average seasons, about twenty bushels of 

 corn per acre. On the 22d of March I planted 

 the millet-seed in three-feet drills, dropping 

 every eighteen or twenty inches some six or 

 eight seeds. It was ploughed and hoed often 

 enough to keep the grass down, and about the 

 first of July began to head. The heat had then 

 been unusually intense for two weeks, and has 

 continued so up to the present time ; and latterly 

 the drouth has been very destructive. I do not 

 think this half- acre would have yielded five 

 bushels had it been planted in corn. Having 

 intended, however, to ascertain whether the 

 millet w^ould make syrup, I had a rude mill put 

 up, with two beech rollers. Finding by the 22d 

 of July the most advanced heads had passed the 

 milk stage, I had 1750 canes cut, that I sup- 

 posed were a fair sample of the patch. The 

 first three or four hundred were passed through 

 the mill twice, the remainder four times ; and 

 the yield was 194 quarts of juice. But ten 



