112 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Ecn 



THE CHINESE SUGAU-CAIJE. 



3. A stopcock should be put in the main-pipe 

 neai' the spring, to shut off the -water in case of 

 repairs, also stoj>cocks ought to be inserted on 

 the branches near where they join the main-pipe. 

 If the pipe is carried over a hill, there should be an 

 air vent inserted at the highest j)oint to let off any 

 air which may accumulate from drawing the spring 

 below the top of the pipe at the spring. 



4. The tubs should be large and nicely covered. 

 Oil casks are good for the yards — size, 200 gal- 

 lons sav.'ed through the middle and bedded in clay, 

 to preserve the hoops from rust. 



An aqueduct may be laid without attention to 

 these conveniences and cautions, but it costs a tri- 

 fle more to have a piece of perfect work to hand 

 down to all future generations. David Lymax. 



Middlefidd, Conn., Dec. 29, 1856. 



The Farm Journal. — The January number of 

 this work is a pattern for the editorial and typo- 

 graphical fraternity. Handsomely bound, it vrould 

 look better in the parlor than some of the annuals. 

 It is only one dollar a year. All Pennsylvania, at 

 east. ou;;ht to read it. 



CHINESE SUGAR CAHE, 



OR, SUGAR MILLET. 



Early last spring, through the 

 kind attentions of the Commis- 

 sioner of Patents, we were fur- 

 nished with several packages of 

 the seed of the Chinese Sugai' 

 Cane, or Sugar Millet. These 

 seeds we took pains to place in 

 the hands of such persons as we 

 supposed would plant and tend 

 them, and then give us some ac- 

 count of the crop, whether of the 

 crude plant, or of any extract 

 from it ; and whether, in their 

 opinion, further experiments ought 

 to he made with it, in order to de- 

 termine if it may be introduced 

 into New England as a profitable 

 crop. 



In order to have some personal 

 knowledge of it, we planted, and 

 in about one hundred days saw 

 the. plants standing ten feet in 

 height, with their seed heads beau- 

 tifully developed, and their whole 

 appearance luxuriant and promis- 

 ing. Absence from home prevent- 

 ed us from extracting and boiUng 

 their juices, or from seeing cattle 

 or swine feed upon the plants. 



Several persons, however, to 

 whom we sent the seed, did ex- 

 tract their juice, boiled it. and pro- 

 duced a rich, finely-flavored and 

 colored syrup ; some of it now 

 standing by us produced by Mr. Hyde, the author 

 of the Manual on the "Chinese Sugar-Cane," has 

 deposited in the bottom of the bottle containing it 

 a sediment of sugar, much resembling that found 

 at the bottom of our New Orleans molasses. Mr. 

 H. states that cattle and swine are fond of the plant. 

 A gentleman in another part of the State in- 

 forms us that the plants grew well with him, though 

 they did not perfect their seed, being planted quite 

 late ; his hogs ate them greedily, would even chew 

 the dry stalks, and seemed to find great pleasure 

 in grinding and sucking till all their juices were ex- 

 hausted. His cattle would eat all clean when they 

 were greenand succulent, and when frost-bitten and 

 dry would lilve them still. 



We have no hesitation in advising those to whom 

 it may be convenient, to test the value of the plant, 

 both as a fodder and a syrup and sugar producer. 

 Our climate, with our intensely hot summer suns, 

 is admirably adapted to the corn plant, and it seems 

 to us will be equally well adapted to the sugar- 

 cane. For one season at least, it will be well to 



