No, 9. 



Whitewashing Fruit Trees. 



131 



above the bottom by the angle of the pot, and 

 then drawing the bag over the top edges to 

 the ontside and securing it, you have a very 

 good tilterer. Place in it and fill to within 

 an inch or two of the top, animal charcoal, 

 (bones burnt or "charred as wood is to make 

 charcoal, except that these bones are burnt 

 or baked in iron pots, liermetically closed 

 during the baking,) ingrains; because if in 

 powder, it is not so good tor various reasons, 

 and is apt to v^ash through the filterer. Upon 

 the charcoal in the filterer you pour your 

 juice, at first keeping closed the stop cock or 

 hole (as the case may be,) at the bottom, and 

 retaining the juice in the filterers for a mo- 

 ment, and when opened as it flows from the 

 filterer, you run it into the pan or kettle again 

 to evaporate. You can have as many filter- 

 ers as you please, all in use at the same time, 

 by having the stop cock of each over a spout 

 which shall conduct the juice to the pan for 

 evaporating. 



8lh. After filtering, evaporate the juice 

 to t\venty-one°* and then filter again, and 

 again run it into the kettle in order to 



9th. Condense it totlie crystalizing point, 

 which is known by taking a small portion be- 

 tween the thumb and finger, after it has been 

 reduced to molasses, and you may suppose it 

 is near the point at which crystallization takes 

 place, and drawing it out, if on cooling, it ap- 

 pears to snap, it must be removed and left to 

 crystallize. 



1 beg to offer a few remarks here on this 

 point, which my experiments have proved to 

 me. 1st. If you make but a small quantity 

 of sugar, as a pint, a quart, or I should think- 

 even a gallon, i. e. two gallons of syrup when 

 it is at the crystallizing point, I should deem 

 it scarcely possible to separate the molasses 

 from the sugar after it has granulated. I am 

 satisfied that it will require a larger quantity 

 to carry out all the manipulations as they 

 should be to produce beet sugar with success 

 or profit. No estimate of quantity, expense, 

 or profit can be made from working on a small 

 scale ; quality of the beets and sugar may be 

 proved. 2d. After the syrup has been, as 

 supposed, reduced to the crystallizing point, 

 and left in a shallow vessel in a cool place 

 for a day or two, and it is found not to crys- 

 tallize, provided that it has not been evapo- 

 rated too much, you may easily make yourself 

 acquainted with the proper point by resort to 

 the following : 



Take three or four saucers, and in each 

 place one or two spoonfuls of your syrup, 

 hold each one over a small flame, or a spirit 

 lamp, and reduce each one a shade more than 

 the other and all more than the syrup which 



* By a saccharpmeter, I evaporated about one half of 

 my juice bePire filtering the second lime. Practice must 

 guide you in this if you do not use a saccharonneler. 



you have taken them from, try them as di- 

 rected and carefully note the appearance of 

 each, and the white spots which arise during 

 the experiment — place them all away for a 

 day, so that on resorting to them, you can 

 designate each and recollect its appearance 

 when you were reducing it ; or it would be 

 better to note on a paper relative to each, then 

 if you find any or all of them have granulated, 

 take the one which gives the strongest and 

 best formed crystal for your guide, and re- 

 duce your syrup to the same point that you 

 did this sample, and you will scarcely fail to 

 make sugar to the amount of fifty per cent, 

 of your syrup, and the remainder will be mo- 

 lasses. The peculiar odor which most of the 

 syrup and sugar has, I cannot tell how you are 

 to remove""; but 1 have seen sugar made here 

 without it; If the process is carefully and skil- 

 fully conducted and the roots good, there will 

 be but little of it. One thing is certain, from 

 constant tasting of the juice and sugar, you 

 become reconciled to this peculiarity, and 

 many who would make it for their own use, 

 would not regard it. Tastes are arbitrary, 

 and can we say that if we had eaten beet 

 sugar all our lives, (without being refined,) 

 with this peculiar odor, we would not reject 

 cane sugar if presented to us for our use, be- 

 cause of its peculiarity to the taste and smell 1 



J. S. 



For Uie Farmfirs' Cabinet. 



TVliifewa§Iiiiig Fruit Trees. 



In passing through several sections of the 

 county of Chester, the writer of this article 

 has taken notice of a prevailing practice 

 among the inhabitants of whitewashinor 

 young fruit trees ; and on inquiring why, or 

 what reason they had for so doing, was in- 

 formed that it was done in order to promote 

 the health and thriftiness of the tree, by 

 protecting it from the depredations of various 

 insects, by which it is often injured in its 

 young and tender state, and to give the bark 

 a lively, fresh appearance. While the seem- 

 ing plausibility of this theory is admitted, 

 and the exalted opinion the writer of this 

 essay entertains of the good sense, enter- 

 prise, and general intelligence of the farmers 

 of this county, yet in relation to the utility 

 of whitewashing fruit trees, would beg leave 

 to give his opinion, that it is not only labor 

 lost, but in reality has a very deleterious 

 effect on the vitality, growth, and well-being 

 of the tree to which it is applied, because it 

 forms a coat over the trunk of the tree, of a 

 dry, costive nature, which effectually pre- 

 vents the humidity of the night air, and the 

 fertilizing dews, so indispensable to the ex- 

 pansion of the bark and health of the tree, 

 from penetrating, softening, and moistening 

 the outer coat. It is believed, also, to have 



