31 



and in the month of August the rains came, and throughout the entire cane- 

 growing belt from the great Salt Lake valley to the shores of the Atlantic, the 

 aspect of the crop was changed ; the hopes of the planter were revived, and all 

 ventured to calculate upon a small return for their labor, provided frost did not 

 occur until late in September. From t!ie 1st of August until the night of the 

 l^th of September tlie weather was most favorable, and many fields of cane 

 matured, though the largest portion of the crop was even then two or three 

 weeks behind, some being only in the flower. At this time the first frost of the 

 season occurred, visiting, so far as we have learned, the whole region of country 

 north of the central line of the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, extending 

 somewhat below the line in the latter State, and not reaching quite down to it 

 in Ohio. This was, however, only a frost, not a freeze., and, as is well known 

 to experienced cultivators, not a great disaster. The development of the cane 

 was, of course, arrested where the blades were entirely killed, but this Avas not 

 generally the case; and even where the verdure was wholly blighted, the partly 

 mature cane seems to have gone on in a process of ripening or perfecting itself, 

 not, perhaps, in a strict sense by the filling out of seed and a regular develop- 

 ment of saccharine matter, but by a modification of the crude vegetable elements, 

 the evaporation of Avater, and a general improvement in the taste of the cane. 

 We noticed that cane which was in the flower when the frost of the 18th oc- 

 curred began to acquire from day to day the taste of ripe cane, losing, in a great 

 measure, the grassy or vegetable taste which belongs to that stage, eyen when 

 there was no perceptible development of the seed head. In cases where the 

 blades were not all killed we think the seeds continued to fill out as usual. We 

 have tried to believe that the perfecting- of the panicle was precipitated, or in 

 some degree hastened, by the visitation upon the blades, but careful observation 

 from day to day does not enable us to say that this was the case. 



" On the night of Saturday, October 8, a heavy frost, amounting to a freeze, 

 occurred. The thermom.eter in some of the cane regions fell to 28°, in others 

 as low as 26°. Ice formed an eighth of an inch thick, and stalks of standing 

 cane were literally frozen. This was the end of the growing, and every careful 

 husbandman, particularly all who read the Sorgo Journal, immediately put 

 their hands into the field and cut doM-n and sheltered the frosted cane with as 

 little delay as possible. Those who did so had the satisfaction of finding their 

 cane, even when worked , several weeks afterward, in good order, while those 

 who neglected or delayed this work for a week or two, or three, were obliged to 

 pay the penalty in an unsatisfactory return for their labors." 



Clorcr-secd. — Both our returns and the market prices of this product show 

 how short the crop is. In Pennsylvania it is 2f tenths below the crop of last 

 year ; in New York, 3^ tenths below, and in Ohio, 2|- tenths below. These are 

 the principal clover-seed producing States, and any material change in prices 

 need not be looked for. 



The fall-soicn crops. — However great the loss of farmlabor has been, especially 

 in the western States, the table shoAVS that the usual amounts of wheat, lye, 

 and barley have been sown. The weather has been unusually favorable for 

 putting these crops in, and hence the labor of the country has had a longer 

 time to operate in. It has been equally as favorable for the growth of these 

 crops, and should they escape freezing out, the spring will open with the 

 promise of an undiminished yield of these important staples. 



