No. 17, 



Sugar Beet Correspondence. 



345 



John Jambs in the chair. The committee 

 to nominate officers reported the following 

 ticket which was elected: 



President — John D. Steele. 



Vice Presidents — William Painter, Rich- 

 ard Pimm, Hon. Henry Myers, Gen. Joshua 

 Evans. 



Corresponding Secretary — VVm. Jackson. 



Recording Secretary — Geo. Tliomas, M. D. 



Assistant Recording Secretary — Caspar 

 W. Sharpless, Esq. 



Treasurer — George Brinton, Jr. 



Directors — John James, VVm. W. Barber, 

 Thomas S. Woodward, P;ischa]l Morris, Jos. 

 T. Jackson, Abraham W. Sharpless, Isaac 

 Newton, Dr. John T. Haddleson, James S. 

 Peters, Hill Brinton. 



Dr. William Darlington, of Chester, and 

 George Roberts, of Monijfomery county, were 

 unanimously elected Honorary Members of 

 this Society. 



Resolved, That the Society hold its next 

 nemi-annual meeting at the house of John 

 Jacobs, in Delaware county. 



Resolved, That the proceedings of this 

 meeting be published in the papers of the 

 two counties, and in the "I'\rmers' Cabinet." 

 JOHN JAMES, President. 



Jos. T. Jackson, Sec'ry. 



We liave been politely t'urniolied tor paljlicfitioii 

 in the Cabinet, with t!ie tbilosving coi-respoiideiice 

 between the UoiTeS[ionilin<; Secretary of the Ne« 

 Oastle County Agricultural Society, and Beiij. 

 \V ebb, oi' Wilmington. 



Tor the P'aiiners' Cabinet, 



Sugar. Uect. 



Wilmiuytoii, .May 1st, 1838. 



Benjamin Webb, — Dear Sir: — Intending 

 to carry out the views and wishes of our agri- 

 cultural Society by addressing ^7•«c^^co/J'tfJ•?H- 

 (Ts and obtaining such iiicts and observations 

 as they may be willing to communicate on 

 subjects connected with agriculture tor the 

 benefit of the Society, I hope you will be dis- 

 posed (at your leisure) to give rne the result 

 ofT/our experience (tor lam aware you have 

 been paying particular attention to the sub- 

 ject) in the cultivation and use of the sugar 

 beet ; and, if you please, of root crops in 

 general. The queries proposed below will 

 afford you some idea of the inlbrmaiion 

 sought. 



Ist. What variety and how long have you 

 cultivated the sugar beet, and what has been 

 its yield per acre with you 1 



2d. Have you attempted and succeeded in 

 making sugar from it on your farm — if so, to 

 what amount and by what process] 



lid. How simple may the utensils be to ef- 

 fect its manufacture by the farmer, and how 

 will its cost compare with the soulliera and 



West India Sugars at the common prices cur- 

 rent ] 



4th. How valuabledoyou consider the cake 

 or resideum after the extraction of thesaccha* 

 rine juices, as compared with the root itself, as 

 food for horses, and all kinds of slock ! 



5th. Does your experience witli the beet 

 or other roots, lead you to believe that they 

 can ever be substituted entirely for the grain 

 tlj,e fanner is accustomed to feed to his horses, 

 oxen, and fattening cattle and sheep? 



Gth. How does the sugar beet answer for 

 dairy cows — compared with ruta baga, car- 

 rots, turneps, &c., and what is your mode of 

 feeding it to them ! and to your stock and in 

 what proportion 1 



7th. How do you preserve your crop of 

 sugar beets and other roots through the win- 

 ter, and whether it is best to bury them in the 

 earth or keep them in cellars'! 

 Your friend, 



Jas. W. Thomson, 

 Cor. Secretary Ag. Society. 



Wilmington, Gth month 1st, 18o8. 



Dr. James W. Thomson, 



Cor. Sec. Agricultural Society. 

 It is with some reluctance I agree to an* 

 swer the above queries upon root culture, as 

 tliut agreement is a sort of admission of niy 

 practical knowledge of agriculture ; while 

 those best acquainted with my business have 

 good reason to doubt it, or at least consider 

 me nothing more than a noviciate in the art 

 of farming. 1 am so much engaged in other 

 pursuits that I feel conscious of knowing" 

 but little of agriculture, and much of that lit- 

 tle has been gathered from books and peri- 

 odicals of the present and past times. 



I am aware, however, that the members 

 of the Agricultural Society of New Castle 

 County, can appreciate as well the advanta- 

 ges as the diilerence between experiments, 

 and theories, and shall therefore communi- 

 cate such knowledge as I have, carefully 

 marking the line between facts and opinions, 

 and leave others to draw their own conclu- 

 sions, as to the probable advantages of either. 



Answer to the first querie. — We have cul- 

 tivated the Silecian sugar beet these two 

 years past; the yield has not exceeded 80<) 

 bushels per acre ; the expense of raising tlie 

 sugar beet, the mangel wurtzel, and the ru- 

 ta baga, when compared with corn, has upon 

 all the experiments I have made, exceeded 

 the grain three to one ; that is, one acre of 

 roots has cost more than three acres of corn, 

 but the produce has been ten fold, for we 

 have raised more than 900 bushels of ruta 

 baga to an acre, and have never raised 80 

 busliels of corn. 



Answer to the 2d, 3d, and 4th queries. — 

 We attempted to manufacture sugar from the 



