PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 683 



water, and put in the mixture, add water, work together with a 

 hoe, and in four days it is so thoroughly decomposed no ferment- 

 ation will follow. Otherwise, a year or so is required. 



Dr. J. V. C. Smith. — I noticed in my travels through Egypt, 

 that on the banks of the river Nile, up to the first cataract, a dis- 

 tance of nearly a thousand miles, there are a multitude of towers 

 about ten feet high, and on the tops of these are built up pots one 

 above another, ten feet higher, which are doves' houses; and here 

 are kept enormous numbers of doves solely for their manure. 

 Often I saw the women carefully climl)ing up these pots to scrape 

 out the manure, which they sell for the growing of water-melons. 

 Once, when our boat stopped, an Arab sold to some party aboard 

 a quant it}^ of two quarts for about three cents. The finest melons 

 growing in the world are raised by this means. 



Sugar Beets. 



Mr. W. J. Coleman, St. Louis, Mo., writes : " More than once 

 I have raised fifteen tons of sugar beets to the acre, and I did not 

 think it a large crop. On the same kind of land they will pro- 

 duce as much as carrots up to a certain limit. Their large leaves 

 require so much space that carrots will excel them in a full crop 

 of 1,600 bushels, or forty tons per acre, such as we sometimes 

 raise here. Some of the largest yields of sorgo have been in this 

 yicinity, showing that the climate and soil here are suited to the 

 '-'growth of sugar-producing plants. No attempts at making sugar 

 have as yet been made, but among the industries which soon will 

 throng Lake Erie borders, this should not be neglected." 



Mr. N. C. Meeker. — This letter is important in showing the 

 capacity of a soil not remarkable for richness, in producing the 

 beet. There is a vast extent of country through the Northern 

 States where this root will grow equally well. In view of the 

 recent success in beet sugar, in Illinois, this subject is of the very 

 greatest importance. At the time they commenced grinding at 

 Chattsworth, the Illinois Central railroad sent down to the works 

 some of their most ingenious machinists ; and there were orders, 

 that if at any time it was necessary, a special train should be run, 

 that there might be no delay. This they did, not because they 

 had invested a cent in the enterprise, but because they believed 

 beet sugar could be produced, and that it would add immensely 

 to the resources of the State. 



We have with us, to-day, a gentleman well versed hi the manu- 



