THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 71 



matters, as we shall see from the valuable and 

 practical mattei>below. 



*« During the past season many new facts have 

 occurred which cannot but interest our readers. 

 Among these is the successful cultivation of the 

 Chinese Sugar-cane, or Sorgho. We received a 

 small package from the Farmer's Club of the 

 American Institute, and have grown a few square 

 rods. Messrs. Olcott and Vail, of the Westches- 

 ter Farm School, at Mount Vernon, New York, 

 have raised an acre, and both their experiments 

 and our own, so far as pursued, seem to endorse 

 the views of others. The stalks of the sorgho 

 are more numerous than those of corn, and grow 

 with us eleven feet high. The quantity of seed 

 is very large, while the stalks and leaves are 

 much sweeter than corn-stalks, and are readily 

 eaten by cattle, being preferred by them to the 

 stalks of the sweet-corn. Messrs. Olcott and Vail 

 have made syrup from the juice, of a light straw- 

 color, and in every way equal in flavor to that of 

 the sugar-cane. If our friends in Carolina are 

 right in their views of the value of this plant, — 

 and we have no reason to doubt them, — it will 

 enable a large portion of the Northern States to 

 manufacture sugar of good quality — indeed, of 

 any quality, as, from the improved method now 

 7 



