THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



189 



gathered before the ear is formed, it is here stated, 

 yield of saccharine matter three times as much as 

 the beet, five times as much as the maple, and ful- 

 ly equal, if they do not exceed, that of the ordi- 

 nary sugar cane in the United Slates. " One thou- 

 sand pounds of sugar, it is believed, can easily be 

 produced I'rom an acre of corn. It has been as- 

 certained, by trial, that corn on being sown broad 

 cast [and so requiring but little labor, compara- 

 tively, in its cultivation,] will produce five pounds 

 per square ibot, equal to 108 tons to the acre jor fod- 

 der in a green state ; and it is highly probable thai 

 when subjected to the treatment necessary to pre- 

 pare the stalks, as above described, in the beet 

 manner lor the manulacture of sugar, a not less 

 amount of crop may be produced. Should this 

 prove to be the case, one thousand weight of sugar 

 per acre, might be far too low an estimate. Should 

 the manulacture of sugar from the corn stalks 

 prove as successful as it now promises, enough 

 might soon be produced to supply our home con- 

 sumption, towards which, as has been mentioned, 

 at least 120 millions of pounds of foreign sugar 

 are annnally imported, and a surplus might be had 

 for exportation." 



These statements may well be called startling ; 

 but we must be pardoned if we consider them, in 

 some measure, of the multicaulis variety. We 

 have a high respect for Mr. Ellsworth ; we believe 

 there is not a better officer in the government ; and 

 that no man living would be more reluctant to 

 make a misstatement than himself. But we want 

 a good many more facts and experiments in the 

 case, before we can yield entire confidence to such 

 predictions. The whole, (or aught that appears, 

 grows out of a statement of a Mr. Webb, of De- 

 laware, given in our November number, who ob- 

 tained from a small piece of ground at the rate ol 

 100 lbs. of sugar to an acre, and who states that 

 further experiments showed conclusively that the 

 produce might be increased ten-fbid. Now we 

 have no desire to question Mr, Webb's veracity ; 

 but it will be observed in the first place, that he 

 has not yet obtained 100 lbs. to an acre, but only 

 at that rate ; and in the second place, that although 

 experiments to him have conclusively shown that 

 a thousand pounds may be obtained to an acre, 

 yet we do not know what those experiments were, 

 and the conclusion is matter of inference or private 

 judgment. We shall be exceedingly glad to be 

 set right on this subject. 



The calculation of producing green corn fodder 

 at the rate of 108 tons to an acre is, we believe, 

 more easily asserted than proved. We should 

 like facts in this case much better than conjecture. 



Tall meadow oat grass has yielded, green, at the 

 rate of 16,335 lbs. per acre, and dried, 5717 lbs. 

 Millet has yielded, green, at the rate of 12,251 lbs. 

 per acre, and when dried, 4747 lbs. Herdsgrass, 

 when green, 40,837 lbs., and dried, 17,355 lbs., or 

 when cut after the seed is ripe, 19,397 lbs. A 

 crop of herdsgrass producing when cured 17,- 

 355 lbs., is indeed enormous ; and what very few 

 among us have ever seen, less than five tons be- 

 ing the largest measured crop which has come 

 within our knowledge. We have never known a 

 crop of green corn fodder weighed, when cut lor 

 fodder, but we have given in our last No. the weight 

 of an acre of"corn fodder of the gourd seed variety, 

 when cured, including husks, and yielding 66 bush- 

 els of grain per acre, and the whole amount of that 



was 2 Ions, 13 cwt., 13 lbs. In the case of herds- 

 grass, the proportion of green weight boie to the 

 dried as 40 to 17 or as 20 to 8 tons. If we may 

 infer any thing from this fact in regard to Indian 

 corn, we may reckon the green lydder from such 

 a yield of corn as 6 to 7 tons. It would, however, 

 be much more than this, if the corn had beerj 

 sown broadcast ; and perhaps may be quadrupled. 

 Conjecture, however, is idle in a case where, we 

 hope, we may soon have facts. It is supposed in 

 the case of the report, that the corn is to be sow- 

 ed broad cast and yield at the rale of five pounds 

 to a square foot. This is a remarkable calcula- 

 tion ; and if corn is sowed thus thickly, how is it 

 to be got at to pluck off the ears, which is said to 

 be a necessary pan of the process 1 A lew months 

 however, will teitle this ; and if an acre of corn, 

 by the mode described or any other mode, can be 

 n;ade to yield five hundred pounds of sugar, we 

 shall throw our hats up as high as any one in the 

 crowd.* 



SOBIETHIKG ABOCT WESTERN PRAIRIES. 



By Solon B.obinson. 



Extract from ilie American Agriculturist. 



I am sorry that I arp not able to answer the 

 second question, even satisfactorily to myself. 

 But who that ever undertook, ever satisfied his 

 inquirers as to how a prairie looks, while in a state 

 of nature. The reason is that there is nothing 

 analogous, to which one can compare it. in a 

 thickly settled country. But suppose that the 

 reader fancies the countjy with which he is best 

 acquainted in an old settled country, entirely de- 

 stitute of buildings or fences, or in fact any mark 

 of civilization, with ail the hills reduced so as to 

 make a gently rolling surface, the woodland to 

 remain as it is, and the entire surface of cleared 

 land covered with grass — that upon the upland 

 thick and short, and in the low lands one or two 

 feet high, and in the swamps four or five feet, and 

 he may have a very faint idea how a prairie looks. 



So you see they are not so "very level." 

 Gently undulating, applies to all prairie countries 

 within my knowledge. Sometimes, though rare- 

 \y, hills occur that are too steep to cultivate con- 

 veniently, and sometimes rocky bluHs. But a 

 general characteristic in this region is destitutenesa 

 of stone, except a few boulders of granite, that 

 have come from parts unknown. 



The streams are most generally muddy bot- 

 toms. The timber in the groves or islands that 

 abound throughout this sea of grass, is most 

 commonly short, and grows, thin upon the ground, 



* Since penning the above, we have seen it stated in 

 some exchange paper, that forty tons of green corn 

 fodder were obtained from an acre in Worcester Co. 

 Mass. ; and at a late agricultural meeting in Boston, the 

 editor of the New England Farmer is reported in the 

 Ploughman to have said that he understood that 100 

 tons of grten corn had been cut from a single acre at 

 three cuttings, in a season, and he had known 37 tons 

 cut on an acre at one time. 



We have no disposition to impugn these statements 

 in the smallest measure ; but we should be exceed- 

 ingly glad to know when and where these crops were 

 produced ; and how and when the amount was 

 ascertained. 



