324 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



With all the discussion of some years past on the necessity of 

 new seed and new varieties, but little has been done. We ought to 

 do what France is doing ! Introduce and experiment more on 

 farinaceous roots. There are dozens which ought to be tested ! 



Mr. H.S. Olcott, of the Mount Vernon Farm School, read the 

 fgllowing remarks on the Sorgho Sucre or Chinese Sugar Cane : 



In accordance with an expressed wish of the Farmers' club, 

 the undersigned begs leave to present the following remarks upon 

 this very important grass, whose culture has so recently been 

 attempted in our country. 



The possibility of raising the Sorgho, even to the complete ma- 

 turity of its seed and the extraction of syrup from its juice, has to 

 our knowledge been proved by actual experiment in Massachu- 

 setts, Vermont, Connecticut, New-York, Pennsylvania, Hew-Jer- 

 sey, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, District of Colum- 

 bia, North and South Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana, 

 and we suppose there is scarcely any one of the States in which 

 there have not been a greater or less amount of seed sown. 



The fact of its adaptability to these wide extremes of territory, 

 makes its introduction to the list of our economic plants a matter 

 of general interest, and coming as it does at a period when our 

 liveliest fears are awakened for our sugar crop, its various merits 

 demand for it the greatest attention. 



Of its origin and botanical rajik we shall not in this connection 

 attempt a description, but refer investigators to previous papers 

 presented to this club, and to elaborate translations and articles in 

 the " Working Farmer," for 1856. 



As a sacchariferous plant its superiority to the ordinary cane 

 consists — 



1 . In its adaptability to all varieties of latitude as far North as 

 the 44th parallel. 



2. In its being propagated from its own seed; wliich is obtained 

 in conjunction with the saccharine matters. 



3. In its ripening at a more convenient season of the year. 



4. In the yield of two crops in a season. 



By the first peculiarity it enables the smallest farmer in the 

 New England, Middle, and Western States, to manufacture his 

 own molasses and sugar, instead of as at present being subjected 



