90 



Corn-Stalk Sugar. 



Vol. VI. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Coru-Stalk Sugar. 



Mr. James Pedder : 



Dear Sir, — Knowing the deep interest 

 you have heretofore taken in the growth and 

 manufacture of beet-sugar in the United 

 States, and the pains you were at whilst in 

 Europe to obtain all the information on the 

 6ubject calculated to instruct and benefit our 

 countrymen, — and although from different 

 causes the manufacture of beet-sugar has not 

 succeeded in the United States, nor has it 

 been near so extensively undertaken or per- 

 severed in as in France, — yet your exertions 

 and writings have set the people to thinking; 

 and to them, perhaps, is mainly attributable 

 this successful experiment of my young and 

 intelligent neighbour Webb, in producing 

 from the stalks of the common Indian-corn of 

 our country, the samples of sugar and mo- 

 lasses I send you to-day. I inclose you also 

 Mr. Webb's letter, addressed to me as the 

 organ of our Agricultural Society — it will 

 explain to you his views and modus operandi. 

 Suffice it to say, his operations so far have 

 awakened the liveliest interest in the subject, 

 and if only one-half of his hopes and calcu- 

 lations be realized — when working on a larger 

 scale — and sugar and molasses can be manu- 

 factured upon every farm, adequate to its 

 wants, out of a material most largely culti- 

 vated upon it, and that too, if not at much 

 profit, not at great loss — yielding a product 

 of prime necessity and universal consumption, 

 which is now principally imported from abroad 

 and produced in but a limited portion of our 

 Southern States from the sugar-cane — is not 

 the whole subject full of interest and worthy 

 the consideration and trial of "all whom it 

 may concern?" If future experience shall 

 prove to the farmers of the Eastern, Middle 

 and Southern States, that it will be more pro- 

 fitable to them to sell their corn at the mar- 

 ket price, rather than convert the stalks into 

 sugar and molasses, may it not be otherwise 

 with the great corn producers of the mighty 

 West, where 12^ and 20 cts. per bushel can 

 only be realized, and where maple sugar and 

 molasses can alone be procured, and that per- 

 chance at a higher rate and more trouble] 

 Without being too sanguine, or led away by 

 first experiments, let us give to the whole 

 subject a fair trial and the deliberate conside- 

 ration it merits. 



Your views and judgment on Mr. Webb's 

 success, so far, and the probable results of it 

 in future, would be exceedingly interesting 

 to many of the subscribers of the Cabinet — 

 to none more so, dear Sir, than myself. 



Respectfully, &lc., Yours, J, W. Thomson. 



P. S. Papers marked No. I, of sugar, with 

 more molasses in them, contain such sugar, 



as Mr. Webb exhibited at our exhibition ; — 

 that marked No. 2, has been made since, 

 with some improvement, and has just been 

 brought in whilst I am writing — it is a much 

 fairer sample. Yours, in haste, J. W. T. 

 Wilmington, September 23d, 1841. 



[letter.] 



To Dr. J. \V. Thomson, President of the Jigricultural 

 Society of JSTew Castle County. 



Having been reqiiosted to fiirnisb some account of 

 the process for manufacturing sugar from corn, I cli«er- 

 fully comply in giving all the information on the sub- 

 ject so far as I am at present acquainted with it. The 

 introduction of every new manufacture must necessa- 

 rily be a work of time ; errors and difficulties continu- 

 ally obstruct our course, even where we have all the 

 advantages of experience to direct it. The making of 

 sugar from beets in the large way conimenciid in France 

 about 30 years ago; yet not more than one-third of this 

 period has elapsed since the business has become im- 

 portant from its extent and profit. These remarks are 

 introduced as some apology for the imperfect state of 

 the communication I have now to offer. Scarcely one 

 year has passed since the first idea was suggested in re- 

 lation to this peculiar plan for making sugar ; and there 

 has not been sufficient time for those exact experiments 

 necessary to satisfy the careful calculator. In one case 

 I obtained from a small piece of ground at the rate of 

 100 pounds of sugar per acre, but other experiments 

 made since, have conclusively shown, that had a differ- 

 ent mode of planting been adopted, the product would 

 have been increased tenfold. The manner of raising 

 the corn and making the sugar is as follows : 



The corn is planted in rows 2^ feet apart, and the 

 stalks are left to stand in the row 3 inches one from 

 another; it is then cultivated in the usual manner. 

 Sometime in August, or as soon as the stalk shows a 

 disposition to form grain, the ears must be taken off; 

 this operation must be carefully attended to, as upon it 

 entirely depends success. After this there is nothing 

 more to do until the crop is ready to be taken up, whicb 

 will generally happen in September ; the stalks are then 

 cut up at the root, stripped of their leaves, and taken 

 to the mill, where the juice is pressed out between iron 

 rollers, in the same way usually employed with tha 

 sugar cane. Lime water about the consistency of thin 

 cream is then mixed with the juice, one spoonful to the 

 gallon ; it is left to settle one hour, and then poured into 

 boilers, which are covered until the liquid approaches 

 nearly to the boiling point, when the scum must be 

 taken off. It is then boiled down as rapidly as possi- 

 ble, taking off the scum as it rises. As the juice ap- 

 proaches the state of syrup, it is necessary to slacken 

 the fire to avoid burning. The boiling is generally 

 completed when six quarts are reduced to one; it i3 

 then poured into coolers or moulds and set aside to 

 chrystallize. When this process is gone through, the 

 sugar is to be separated from the molasses; and the 

 whole operation is finished. The process here detailed 

 gives the quality of sugar you see in the samples. If 

 ri'(|uired, it can be afterwards refined as other sugar. 

 The use of animal charcoal and the employment of 

 steam in the process of evaporation, as is common in 

 the manufacture of beet sugar, would, I am confident, 

 produce white sugar at one operation. 



From what i.s known on the subject, I fully believe 

 that an acre of good ground treated as above described, 

 will yield at least 1000 pounds of sugar — probably more. 

 The value of the fodder taken from the stalks, and of 

 the stalks themselves at^er passing through the mill, 

 will be more than an equivalent for the whole expense 

 of cultivation and keeping the ground up. The fodder 

 produced in this way is much superior to that usually 

 made, from its containing a greater quantity of saccha- 

 rine matter. And the whole business of making sugar 

 from corn contrasts' so favourably with the manufac 

 ture from beets, that I cannot but think it will obtain 

 the preference wherever the climate will bring the for- 

 mer plant to perfection. Some of the differences may 

 be enumerated as follows: 1st. the corn is clean and 

 agreeable to work with, while the beet is not. 2d. the 

 machinery for extracting the juice from beets is not 

 only more costly, but is more liable to get out of repair. 



