50 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 



Chiuese sugar-c3.ne, as a syrup-producing plant. 

 My attention was first called to the subject by 

 the seed which you were kind enough to send 

 me in the spring of 1855. I planted them, and 

 raised, say, fifteen to twenty canes, that year, 

 from which I extracted a small quantity of juice 

 for analysis. This juice, as you are already 

 aware, yielded, during the winter, sugar and 

 syrup, samples of which I sent to you for inspec- 

 tion. Impressed as I was with the probable 

 importance of this plant to the agriculturists 

 of the South, I did not deem it prudent to speak 

 hastily of its merits, waiting, rather, until a repe- 

 tition of these experiments upon a larger scale 

 should fully establish the opinions I had enter- 

 tained of it. 



" The present year I have cultivated a few 

 more canes for my experiments, and upon the 

 farm of Richard Peters, Esq., Gordon county, 

 Georgia, I have witnessed the growth of the 

 cane by the acre, and the production of the 

 syrup by barrels. I have, in the mean time, read 

 attentively the opinions of Gov. Hammond, of 

 South Carolina, and others in different sections 

 of the Union, who have grown the plant and 

 experimented with it, as also the valuable paper 

 of M. Vilmorin, of France, who has given this 



