30 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



does not spoil of itself, it may be kept ready 

 mixed for months or years. Mem. — Fresh lard, 

 containing no salt, should be used. Resin is a 

 cheap article, and may l>e obtained almost any- 

 where for four to six cents per pound. — American 

 Agriculturist. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 SEED OP THE HUBBARD SQUASH. 



Will the Stkdp of the Chinese Scgak Cane Ferment ?— BtmN- 



INQ THE STRCP — SCGAR FROM IT. 



Mr. Editor : — About two years since, I intro- 

 duced the Hubbard squash to public notice 

 through the columns of your paper. Thereupon 

 letters i-each€d me from many quarters, asking 

 for seed ; I satisfied the demand in part with seed 

 that was quite impure, as the parties were in- 

 formed at the time, but soon found my spare stock 

 exhausted, while still the letters came from the 

 community of live farmers. I was therefore again 

 compelled to resort to your cokmins, and beg of 

 them to §pare me, as on my life I had squeezed 

 out the very last whole seed that could possibly 

 be spared from a stock that had never anticipated 

 such a "run," and was therefore very naturally 

 obliged to "suspend." Last spring, after conning 

 over that famous axiom in political economy, that 

 in a healthy relation between the producer and 

 consumer, the supply will always equal the de- 

 mand, I resolved that as circumstances had fairly 

 cornered me, and many looked to me as producer 

 of the seed in question, that I would meet the re- 

 lation fairly, and lay in store a good stock of as 

 pure seed as could be produced. In this effort, I 

 have beer, successful, and I would, therefoi-e, take 

 the liberty to call the attention of parties whom 

 I was unable to supply, to an advertisement on 

 another page of this paper. 



A writer in an agricultural paper inquii*es wheth- 

 er the syrup obtained from the Chinese sugar 

 cane will remain without fermentation. A year 

 since, I made a small quantity of syrup, and have 

 kept the same loosely corked in a glass bottle un- 

 der circumstances favorable for fermentation, the 

 warmth of a close room ; immediately upon read- 

 ing the question of the writer, I arose, tested the 

 syrup remaining, and found in it not the slightest 

 indication of fermentation. This syrup was pre- 

 pared from the pith of the cane, having been re- 

 duced about eight-ninths, hardly to the consisten- 

 cy of common molasses. 



Writers vary much in their opinions of the 

 quality of the new molasses, rating it all the way 

 from poor West India, to the best syrup in the 

 market. That there is good ground for this dif- 

 ference of opinion, any one will be satisfied by 

 testing the various samples exhibited at our agri- 

 cultural fairs. At the Essex County Fair, four 

 samples were exhibited, three of which were thick- 

 er than common molasses, of a darker color, and 

 bitter taste ; they had evidently been burnt in the 

 process of manufacture, and no man on his con- 

 science could rank them much higher than the 

 poorest of sweet Cuba molasses. The fourth sam- 



f)le was of about the color of sugar-house mo- 

 asses, and rather thinner, having been reduced 

 about seven parts in eight ; its quality was equal, 

 or nearly equal to that of the best syrup of com- 

 merce, with a flavor reminding one of buckwheat 

 '•akes. We would advise, therefore, such of our 



farmer friends as have not as yet finished their 

 experiments, to avoid reducing their sap below 

 the consistency of quite thin molasses, for while 

 this may safely be done by almost any one, to re- 

 duce it still more is attended with risk, and calls 

 for the oversight of the experienced sugar-maker. 

 We are told that this variety of the cane can be 

 made to yield but a small proportion of crysta- 

 lized sugar, as the sugar which it contains is most- 

 ly grape sugar, a variety which will not crystalize. 



About three weeks since, two hills of cane, one 

 a little more advanced towards ripening than the 

 other, but neither of them having their seed ad- 

 vanced beyond the milk, were given to a friend 

 to experiment with. In a few days, he brought 

 me the result of his experiment, saying that he 

 thought he must have made some mistake, as the 

 product did not seem like molasses. On exami- 

 nation, I found a thick mass, of about the color 

 of honey, too thick to run on the vessel being 

 turned. I found on tasting, that it was nearly 

 pure sugar, as nearly so as the molasses sugar 

 which is sometimes found as a residuum in molas- 

 ses casks. The peculiarity of the experiment was, 

 that the party knew nothing of sugar-making 

 either in theory or practice. As soon as the sap 

 was expressed, without being strained, it was im- 

 mediately boiled, and most of the scum removed. 

 No alkali whatever was added, and consequently 

 the sugar has quite an acid taste. From this for- 

 tunate accident, I think we may draw two infer- 

 ences ; that to obtain sugar from the Chinese su- 

 gar cane, an alkali is not necessary, and that the 

 proportion of sugar in a given quantity of syrup 

 is larger than opinions from learned sources have 

 led us to expect. James J. H. Gregory. 



Marblehead, Mass. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 WOMAN A SLAVE IN HER OWN HOUSE. 



The late Gov. Hill, of New Hampshire, in his 

 Family Visitor, while remarking on the import- 

 ance of improving, to the utmost, the character 

 of our butter, gave as a reason for having it nice- 

 ly prepared, that it had already been a component 

 part of almost all our dishes. But the admix- 

 ture of butter with farinaceous and other prepara- 

 tions is not the only violation of nature's simplic- 

 ity. Sugar, molasses, lard, saleratus, eggs, and 

 many more things which might be named, are 

 used in large quantities. The French are said to 

 have no less than 685 dishes of which eggs form 

 a part ; and if we have, as yet, not quite so many, 

 it can hardly be said of us that we are not fast 

 coming up with them. But it seldom happens 

 that our food is so simple as to contain but one 

 foreign ingredient — whether eggs, butter or any- 

 thing else. What were once the plainest, simplest 

 dishes, are often quite compounded. 



Time was — and that, too, within our own re- 

 membrance — when, in very large portions of our 

 country, no housekeeper, in preparing raised 

 bread, (and very little was used of any other 

 kind,) made use of anything but the needful 

 yeast or leven ; not even common salt. Occa- 

 sionally, it is true, through carelessness or neg- 

 lect, the fermentation was allowed to iroceed too 

 far before the baking process commenced ; and 

 the result was a greater or less degree of acidity ; 



