THE PRINCIPLES OF BOTANY. 
13 
“ Plot G 1 is occupied with a grass which has recently- 
excited some attention ; it is the Holcus ( Sorghum ) saccha- 
ratus : its seed was drilled early in April, and duly thinned 
out as it advanced. Early in August it had stooled to about 
five culms to each plant, of which the main or primitive 
one was the largest ; at this time I gathered some in order 
to try how the cows liked it ; but they uniformly refused it, 
which was not to be wondered at, when at this time the whole 
of my plants possessed an intensely bitter taste. On the 1st 
of September I again made trial TVith some of the more ad- 
vanced shoots ; they were devoured greedily, but now an 
immense quantity of sugar had been developed, as the bases 
of these tasted quite as sweet as liquorice-root. This points 
to the circumstance that the juices of this., plant may be 
rich in saccharine matter at a later, though not at an earlier 
stage of growth ; if it is ever to be useful as a feeding 
grass, this must be attended to ; but I much doubt whether 
at any time in the cold climate of the Cotteswolds this 
species of sugar-cane will yield so much sugar as in a warmer 
and less exposed position ; at the same time, as a first trial, 
I consider this eminently successful, and I should not wonder 
to see it more fully tried over a great part of England next 
season.” 
This same year a quarter of an acre of this plant was 
grown on the farm of the Agricultural College, with such 
success that the whole plot presented an even mass of stems 
armed with their broad, flaggy leaves as much as seven 
feet in height, and, as we estimated at the time, yielding as 
much as fifty tons to the acre. This year the summer was 
hot, and the canes absolutely produced sugar, but, alas for the 
fickleness of our English climate, on repeating the experi- 
ment the next year, 1860, the report was — 
“ Sorghurrl saccharatum scarcely attained six inches in 
height against seven feet of the previous year.” 
The truth is that 1860 was as cold and wet as 1859 was 
hot and dry, and the experience gained by a repetition of the 
experiments was of great importance, as showing how, after 
all, the “ North China Sugar Cane” may grow in our country 
with an exceptionable season, but we cannot acclimatize it to 
our purpose, a fact which will be brought out more strongly 
in the following notes on the Indian corn or maize. 
Zea mays was grown in plots side by side with those just 
described ; and in 1859 we succeeded in growing good “ corn” 
of several varieties, but our report for 1860 was — 
“Indian corn not two feet high, and died as soon as flow- 
ered.” Notwithstanding this uncertainty, we have year by 
