THE GENESEE FARMER. 



341 



pounds of maple sugar, and ], 000,000 pounds of 

 beeswax more than Virginia does of the same ar- 

 ticles. New York also produees a greater number 

 of horses, cows, working oxen, other cattle, and 

 sheep; the greatest value of orchard and garden 

 products, ^-c, while Virginia produees the greatest 

 Slumber of asses, mules and swine; the greatest num- 

 ber of bushels of Indian corn, the most tobacco, 

 •rice, cotton, sw-eet potatoes, hemp, flax, and the 

 greatest value ■of home tnanufactures. If anything 

 can be proved by the figuies of the census tables, 

 these figures prove that the agriculture ot New York 

 is far ahead of that of Virginia, — because they make 

 it evident that though she has seven millions of acres 

 more land in farms than New York, yet she falls 

 ehort of producing an equal amount of all the staple 

 products (except corn and tobacco) by millions. 

 Dnjden, A*. Y. H. 0. 



EXPEEIMENTS "WITH THE CHINESE SUGAR CANE 



Eds. Genesee Farmer: — As this plant (Sorghum 

 Saccharatum) is now, and has been for the last year, 

 attracting considerable attention among the farming 

 community, and others who have a desire to test its 

 merits, either as a forage crop or for the manufacture 

 of sugar, I give below some experiments made by 

 myself this season, on rather a small scale, however, 

 yet we can judge from it what itg more extensive 

 culture would do subjected to the same treatment, 

 find under a similar season. I procured seed from 

 the office of the Genesee Farmer; planted about the 

 2oth ot May; made some experiments about the 

 15th of September. The yield of juice far exceeds 

 our most sanguine expectation, though when suffered 

 to stand a week or t'iro longer, there seems to be a 

 more solid sweetness to it. My mill is simply two 

 hard wood rollers, (beech) fifteen inches in diameter, 

 and turned perfectly smooth. They were then fitted 

 closely in a frame, the upper one adjusted upon mov- 

 able boxes, and so arranged as to admit of its being 

 keyed close upon the lower one, or loosened, to ad- 

 mit the larger canes. I get a yield of about four 

 quarts of juice to twenty-five average canes, and I 

 think there might be nearly a third more juice ex- 

 tracted could the cane be pressed with a screw press 

 after passing a second time between the rollers. By 

 experiment, I find that corn stalk yields a very small 

 quantity of juice or of the saccharine matter, com- 

 pared with the sorghum, having taken twenty-five 

 tbs. weight of each and subjected both to a like 

 treatment. The etalk gave a yield of about one- 

 fourth the quantity of juice that the cane did, and 

 when boiled to syrup was of a very inferior quality. 

 Flushing, Mich. W. N. Chapin. 



Laying Down Butter for Winter. — It may not 

 be uninteresting to some of your readers to know 

 my mode of laying down butter for winter and spring 

 use. I rinse the milk out of the butter until the 

 water is perfectly clear; salt it; then set in the cellar 

 for 24 hours; then work nicely, taking care not to 

 spoil the grain; after which I add a little salt and a 

 table spoonful of pulverized loaf sugar to about four 

 pounds; then pack in stone jars. I commenced lay- 

 ing down butter in September, 18.56, and used the 

 last of a four gallon jar in July, and it was said by 

 good judges to be preferable to fresh made butter. 



Clare/ice, Erie Co., JV. Y. N. C. 



PLANTING SUGAR CANE INSTEAD OF SEED. , 



Messrs. Editors. — I have watched with interest 

 the discussion of the merits of the Chinese Sugar 

 Cane, and the diflerent methods of cultivating and 

 manufacturing it; and I am quite surprised that all 

 talk of planting the seeds, and nothing is said about 

 planting the canes. 



In Louisiana the canes are used for seed, three 

 crops being grow-n from one planting, each success- 

 ive crop being richer in sugar for thiee years, when 

 the ground is again plowed and planted. The plant- 

 ing commences in January and continues till April. 

 It is done as follows: The ground being plowed iu 

 " beds," a furrow is made in each, and the canes are 

 placed in the furrow in such a manner that the joints 

 are from four to six inches apart, when they are 

 covered about three inches with hoes. The hoeing 

 is done by the first of August; and about the mid- 

 dle of September, as much as is needed for the next 

 year's planting is cut and put up in "ricks or stacks." 

 The general cutting begins in October. (See Olm- 

 sted's Seaboard Slave States.) It has been stated 

 also that the Chinese bury their canes for seed, du- 

 ring the winter, the better to preserve them. It 

 might be necessary in this climate to plant each 

 year, but it strikes me as quite probable that the 

 juice of canes raised from canes might be more easi- 

 ly made into sugar than that produced directly from 

 seed. Let us have the opinions of your correspond- 

 ents on the subject, and let experiments be made by 

 those who have opportunity to do so. H. C. 



Dryden, JV. Y. 



GOOD MANAGEMENT OF BUSINESS AFFAIES. 

 BUYING, SILLING, &c. 



The farmer is a commercialist — he endeavors to 

 shirk the responsibility. If he consume all that he 

 produces, and no more, or sells and buys nothing, or 

 carries on no exchange whatever, then is he simply a 

 farmer. But every farmer exports and imports 

 more or less. Hence skilful farm management re- 

 quires an education giving a practical knowledge of 

 exchange. 



He has to understand not only cost of production, 

 but cost of transportation. He needs to have as 

 full a knowledge of business affairs as the merchant. 

 He has to contract — he should understand contracts, 

 and know when legal and safe. He has to transfer 

 — he should know what constitutes a legal transfer. 

 In short, the farmer should understand the minutiae 

 cf business afl'airs. 



Farmers are sometimes over-reached or victimized. 

 In such cases, remedy lies in the reparation he may 

 gain from the legal profession. Prevention is safer 

 than cure. Business knowledge is prevention. 



The business man keeps his business in a settled 

 state. He records the business events of the day, 

 ready for the morrow — its events and changes. The 

 farmer has no time for this. Why? Because he is 

 busy; he keeps his accounts in his head, and trusts 

 memory. A poor accountant iu the hour of death. 



In buying, the farmer consults his own interests, as 

 he should do. If inielligent, he understands where 

 to buy; if a good judge, he knows what and when 

 to buy, with the value of the article. He is gener- 

 ally caught by a "sharper" but once, and shuns after- 

 ward the fire which scorched him. The farmei 



