78 THE CHINESE SUGAR-CANE. 



horses and cattle, which ate them with apparent 

 good relish, and seemed to ask for more. I then 

 concluded that, as a part of its recommendations 

 were true, I should also try the other, and man- 

 ufacture sugar from the juice. Its stalk being 

 very long and heavy, and exceedingly rich in 

 juice, and to the taste, in its natural state, 

 almost as sweet as molasses, no doubt remained 

 upon my mind that it was what it was said to 

 be. I cut six stalks, placed them successively 

 upon a flat board, took a rolling-pin, and, as 

 v/ell as this simple machine enabled it to be 

 done, expressed and saved the juice. The result 

 w^as, I obtained two tumblers-full, but half was 

 not saved. This was then boiled down, and' 

 produced one of the same tumblers half-full of 

 good, pleasant-tasted molasses, about as thick as 

 the common molasses obtained in the shops. But, 

 as my object was simply to ascertain the quan- 

 tity rather than the quality of saccharine matter 

 contained, this juice was neither strained nor 

 clarified, and therefore its taste was not equal to 

 what it would be under more careful treatment. 

 From all I could observe concerning this plant, 

 I am fully convinced that 15 per cent, of good 

 clarified sugar could be obtained from the juice. 

 My experiment produced about 25 per cent, of 



