440 



stated to be about §30 i»er acre, Mr. Gilbert thinks that 40 tons to the 

 acre may be raised in ordinary seasons. 



Experiments in beet-sugar making by a new process have latelybeen 

 made at Sacramento, and the Alta California says : 



"There is no difficulty whatever in making sugar from our beets. The 

 percentage of sugar and the cost are, however, left undetermined 5 until 

 these are proved, the main object of the work is not realized. Some- 

 thing new and unexpected has revealed itself. In Europe the beet 

 attains its maximum of sugar in its latest i^eriod of growth before the 

 frost sets in. Here it has lost half its sugar during the last six weeks. 

 The beets taken from the same soil and milled by Wadsworth in Decem- 

 ber, had the full complement. This is a puzzle which i)roves the opinion 

 that European experience is not a safe guide in California. Evidently 

 the operator here understands his business, but we must wait another 

 year before we can judge what soil and what cultivation is best for sugar 

 beets. Much light will be thrown on the subject after the more complete 

 sugar works — now about to start at Alvarado — shall give us further 

 revelations." 



Tobacco cultitre in California. — A farmer of Butte County, 

 California, is experimenting successfully with tobacco. He has an acre 

 and a half of the best variety, with a most encouraging i3romise of a 

 fine yield. He thinks he will gather 2,000 pounds, worth $300. 



Italian chestnuts. — Italian chestnuts are doing well in Santa Bar- 

 bara and in Los Angeles, California. The tree is said to be a rapid 

 grower, hardy, and a prolific bearer. It grows from seed and needs 

 no grafting. One tree three years old has 23 nuts upon it this season. 



Wheat in Florida. — Dr. C. C. Collins reports that in January last 

 he planted a grain of wheat in his garden. The plant threw out 17 

 heads which yielded 538 grains, gathered in May. It was grown on a 

 high ridge of indifferent sandy soil. 



Egyptian millet. — The editor of the Florida Land Register has been 

 shown a specimen of this plant grown in a garden at Jacksonville. It 

 measures 11 feet in length, including the seed-head of 10 inches. It was 

 taken from a patch of a few feet square, fi-om seed sown broadcast in 

 fair garden soil, and the crop was nearly all of the same height. This 

 variety of millet, it is said, will bear repeated cutting, throwing out 

 fresh stalks from the root, making upon good land a large quantity of 

 excellent fodder. The seed is nutritions, and cattle, mules, and, partic- 

 ularly, i)oultry, are very fond of it. 



California almonds. — Hon. John Bidwell, of Butte County, Cali- 

 fornia, last month sent to San Francisco three tons of almonds grown 

 upon his rancho. They are of the paper-shell variety and of superior 

 (luality, commanding 25 cents per pound in the market. This consign- 

 ment was only a portion of his crop. 



The jute fiber. — Mr. E. H. Derby, of Boston, Massachusetts, writ- 

 ing to the Commissioner in relation to the jute plant, the seed of which 

 the Department has been distributing in the South, says : ''If the plant 

 prospers few j^lanters will know how to separate the fiber. This is done 

 in India by steei)ing the full-grown plant in a i^ond or stream, when the 

 fiber peels off, leaving the wood, which answers for basket-work." Mr. 

 Derby thinks the plant will gTow wherever sugar, rice, and cotton are 

 successful, but will probably do best on the river bottoms of Missis- 

 sippi. 



