366 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
CHINESE SUGAR CANE. 
Report of Dr. Robert Battey, Practical Chemist, and Graduate of the Philadelphia College of 
Pharmacy. 
D. Redmond, Esq., 
Editor of the Southern 
Cultivator, Augusta, 
GOj. : 
Dca/r Sir : — I cheer- 
fully comply with your 
request for information 
on the subject of my ob- 
servations and experi- 
ments upon the Chinese 
Sugar Cane 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 15 to 20 
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, v/ith the probable 
importance of this plant 
lo the agriculturists of 
the South, I did not 
deem it prudent to speak 
hastily of its merits — 
waiting, rather, until a 
repetiton of these expe- 
riments upon a larger 
scale should fully estab- 
lish the opinions I had 
entertained of it. 
The present year, I 
have eultivated a few 
more canes for my ex- 
periments, and upon the 
farm of Richard Peters, 
Esq.. Gordon county, 
Ga., I have witnessed 
the growth of the Cane 
by the acre, and the 
production of the syrup 
by barrels. I have, in 
he meantime at- 
entively the opinions 
of Gov. Hammond, of 
South Carolina, and 
others in different sec- 
tions of the Union, who 
have grown the plant 
and experimented with 
it, as also the valuable 
paper of M, Yilmorin, 
of France, who has 
given this subject much 
study and investigation. 
So that calmly viewing 
all the facts which I 
have been able to collect, 
I no longer entertain a 
doubt that this plant is 
