SPECIAL CROPS. 239 



cheaper and will be sure of fresh seed. Only the large, plump, 

 briglit seeds, should be used. These can be separated from the 

 others by means of the fanning mill. The seeds should be dried, 

 immediately after threshing them out; by spreading them out 

 and turning them often, giving them a free circulation of air, 

 they will soon be dry enough to store away. Twenty-five 

 bushels of seed are raised per acre, and it is worth from three to 

 five dollars per bushel for linseed oil. The cake made from it 

 is a most valuable food for stock and makes better manure than 

 any other food. It should be fea in connection with o-rain 



Sorghum will grow successfully on any soil that will pro- 

 duce a good crop of corn. The ground should be prepared m 

 the same manner as for corn. It can be sown a little earlier 

 than corn, and at intervals of two or three Jays, or a week. 

 The seed should be soaked to the point of sprouting. Plant in 

 rows three to four feet apart, and the hills twelve to eighteen 

 inches apart in the rows. Each seed will send up several stalks ; 

 when six inches high, thin out to four or five stalks. Cultivate 

 the same as Indian corn, and hill up well around the stalks. 

 If sown in drills, three feet apart, leave one plant to the foot. 

 In drilling in seed, cover one and a half inches. After the 

 plant has blossomed, and before the seeds ripen, strip uft" the 

 leaves. They make excellent fodder. In ten days or a fort- 

 night from the stripping, the cane will be in condition to malce 

 syrup, and will remain so for some time. Freezing will ]iot 

 injure it, unless it thaws afterwards. As soon as convenient, 

 commence cutting up, and continue it, just as fast as you can 

 possibly press the cane and boil the juice. Take from the 

 field at once to the rollers, or mill, and press the juice the same 

 day It Ls cut, and commence boiling at once. All who know 

 how to manage maple sap, in making syrup, know how to man- 

 age this. Those who have the patent pans for boiling sap, are 



