THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 39 



canes that I selected and passed seven times 

 through the mill yielded three quarts. The 

 juice was received into common tubs, and tested 

 by a thermometer, and a saccharometer with a 

 scale of 40 degrees. The thermometer stood in 

 every instance at 78 degrees. The saccharometer 

 varied from 21? degrees to 234 degrees. At the 

 latter point the juice would float a fresh egg, I 

 boiled it in a deep pot, and after six to seven 

 hours' boiling obtained 32 quarts of tolerable 

 syrup. The next day I selected ten canes, the 

 heads of which were fully matured ; ten more, in 

 full milk ; ten more, the heads of which were 

 just fully developed and the top seed beginning 

 to turn black ; and again ten comprising all these 

 stages, but from which I did not strip the leaves. 

 They were all passed through the mill seven 

 times, and yielded nearly the same quantity of 

 juice — about three quarts for every ten canes. 

 The juice — tested by the saccharometer — showed 

 that the youngest cane had rather the most, and 

 the oldest rather the least saccharine matter. 

 The whole together, with that of a few other 

 good canes, exhibited at 80 degrees of the ther- 

 mometer 24^ degrees of the saccharometer. From 

 forty-two pints of the juice I obtained, after 

 four hours' boiling, nine pints of rather better 

 4* 



