106      OBSERVATIONS  UPON  THE  SORGHUM  SACCHARATUM. 
excited  such  universal  interest,  that  it  has  this  year  been  planted 
in  almost  every  State  of  the  Union;  and,  as  the  season  has  ad- 
vanced, the  opinions  early  expressed  by  many  intelligent  and 
scientific  experimentalists,  that  it  contained  no  crystallizable 
sugar,  have  apparently  been  confirmed  by  later  trials.  A  few 
crystals,  it  is  true,  have  been  obtained  in  one  or  two  instances, 
but  all  hope  of  producing  sugar  from  it  profitably  seems  to  have 
been  abandoned. 
My  object  in  making  the  following  experiments  has  been  to 
throw  what  light  I  could  upon  this  important  question,  and,  in 
the  event  of  the  result  proving  favorable,  to  give  such  a  formula 
as  would  enable  the  uninitiated  to  proceed  with  confidence  of 
success.  They  have  been  pursued  without  any  attempt  at  extra- 
ordinary production,  either  in  the  cultivation  of  the  cane,  or  the 
developement  of  its  properties;  on  the  contrary,  the  experiments 
were  made  in  small  quantities,  under  many  disadvantages  that 
would  not  occur  in  large  operations,  and  consequently  with  results 
less  favorable. 
On  the  10th  of  May,  (1857,)  I  planted  about  half  an  acre  on 
upland  of  good  quality,  such  as  would  yield,  in  ordinary  seasons, 
50  to  60  bushels  of  Indian  corn  to  the  acre.  The  rows  4  feet 
apart,  and  the  plants  intended  to  be  6  inches  apart  in  the  rows, 
but  which,  on  taking  off  the  crop,  proved  to  be  a  little  over  7 
inches  apart.  When  the  canes  were  about  18  inches  in  height 
I  had  the  suckers  removed.  During  the  month  of  June  I  passed 
the  hoe-harrow  through  it  twice,  a  man  following  with  the  hand 
hoe,  as  in  the  case  of  Indian  corn.  It  was  then  left  to  take  care 
of  itself.  It  grew  rapidly  and  evenly,  and  attained  the  height 
of  12  to  14  feet. 
My  apparatus  and  utensils  for  conducting  the  experiments 
consisted  of  the  following,  viz: — 
A  pair  of  iron  rollers,  7  inches  in  diameter  and  12  inches  long, 
set  in  a  frame  |  of  an  inch  apart,  with  spout  to  catch  and  collect 
the  juice,  and  a  crank  turned  by  hand;  a  few  sugar  moulds  and 
pots ;  some  ivory  black  or  animal  carbon ;  two  filters,  made  of 
common  bed  ticking,  in  the  shape  of  an  elongated  pudding  bag; 
a  thermometer;  Beaume*'s  Pese  Sirop,  or  saccharometer ;  and  a 
polariscope.    All  the  other  utensils  I  obtained  from  the  kitchen, 
