1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



327 



mended as a preventive against mice, has also, in 

 some instances, been found injurious. On this sub- 

 ject, Mr. Giles B. Avery, of the Shaker society, 

 located at New Lebanon, N. Y., in a letter to Hon. 

 Thomas Ewbank, late Commissioner of Patents, 

 says: 



"Various theories have been suggested by nursery- 

 men and orchardists for protecting young trees 

 from the ravages of mice and rabbits. Gas tar has 

 been recommended ; but to my sorrow — I found it 

 to be a positive injury — to such an extent, indeed, 

 as to cause the death of many fine trees in a beau- 

 tiful young orchard of ten year's growth from the 

 bud. Doubtless, there are various qualities of this 

 tar, but that which we were recommended to use, 

 seared the bark to the wood, increased the action 

 of the sun's rays to almost a burning point, and 

 stopped up the pores of the bark, which need as 

 much to be open to atmospheric influence as those 

 of the skin of an animal." 



While a timid course in our practice is a mista- 

 ken one, the rash experiments so often made are 

 occasionally fatal ones. Desperate remedies should 

 be tried — if at all — on a small scale, and their re- 

 sults watched with minute care. 



For the New England Farmer. 



WHAT AILS MY BEES? 



Dear Sir : — Having an old hive of bees, I wish 

 to make a few inquiries concerning them. About 

 a fortnight ago I was looking at them, and I ob- 

 served several young bees lying dead on the 

 ground ; and on the stand were several others of 

 ihe same sort, together with a few worms, which I 

 thought might have been bees in the larvae state. 

 On looking at them since, I observed the same 

 signs; and also perceived a strong smell of honey. 

 To-day, on looking around the back side of the hive, 

 I saw several live worms of a whitish color with 

 red heads; procuring* a piece of wire, I turned it so 

 as to make a hook, and introduced it under the 

 hive, and pulled out five or six worms, and several 

 dead bees. Now I wish to know if these worms 

 were not hatched from eggs deposited there by the 

 bee moth ? and if so, what can be done with the 

 bees, so as to save them, and the honey ? Can the 

 hive, which has no bottom, be tipped over with 

 safety, and the worms taken out ? Also, can you 

 tell me where (and at what price) can Langstroth's 

 work on bees be obtained ? Geo. G. Cheney. 



Weston, Mass., May, 1857. 



Remarks. — Your hives are undoubtedly infested 

 with worms of the bee moth. The worms, il 

 unmolested, will traverse the whole extent of the 

 hive, and destroy the colony. See a letter in an- 

 other column from "W. D. B.," how to transfer 

 them to another hive. 



Langstroth's book may be found at Nourse, Mason 

 & Co.'s for about $1,25. 



^TThe report that $96,000 had been subscribed 

 to buy a plantation for Ex-President Pierce is con- 

 tradicted by Vicksburg papers. Nothing of the 

 kind has been done. 



CHINESE SUGAR CANE. 



At a recent meeting of the Boston Natural His- 

 tory Society, Dr. A. A. Hayes read a paper on the 

 kind of sugar which is developed in the Sorghum 

 saccharatum, or Chinese sugar cane. 



The introduction of this interesting pl^nt has led 

 to many and somewhat extravagant suggestions in 

 relation to its future bearing upon the agriculture 

 and commerce of the United States, particularly in 

 relation to its produce of sugar. According to the 

 Curator of Botany of the Society, Mr. Sprague, 

 this sugar cane belongs to the tribe which includes 

 grasses, and we should therefore expect to find its 

 saccharine matter the variety of glucose called su- 

 gar of grasses, or fruit sugar. The unsuccessful 

 attempts made to crystalize sugar from the juice of 

 the Sorghum, produced in different climates of our 

 country, last year, indicated that it contained no 

 cane sugar, or that the presence of some detrimen- 

 tal matter in the expressed juice destroyed its crys- 

 talizable character. 



When a shaving of the partially dried pith of the 

 matured stalks is examined by the microscope, we 

 observe the sugar cells filled with semi-fluid sugar. 

 After exposure to air it is often possible to distin- 

 guish some crystalline forms in the fluid sugar. 

 These grains, after being washed, cease to present 

 a crystalline character, and have the hardness and 

 general appearance of dry sugar fruit. By with- 

 drawing the sugar without the aid of water, it is 

 possible to obtain it colorless and neutral, as a 

 semi-fluid glucose or fruit-sugar, and no traces of 

 crystals can be seen. The glucose thus obtained, 

 freely exposed to air, soon undergoes the molecular 

 change which is exhibited by sugar of grapes, and 

 we thus observe another character associating the 

 whole product with the sugar of grasses and fruits. 

 Chemically, the semi-fluid sugar of the Sorghum 

 does not blacken with sulphuric acid, but it was 

 sensitive to the action of alkalies, and reduced the 

 alkaline solution of tartrate of copper, thus conform- 

 ing to the well known character of glucose. The 

 most careful analysis failed to detect any cane su- 

 gar in any samples of the stalks, or in any samples 

 of its sugar, even in that raised and carefully pre- 

 pared by Col. Peters, in Georgia. Dr. Hayes 

 therefore concludes that the Sorghum cultivated in 

 this country, does not secrete cane sugar, or true su- 

 gar ; its saccharine matter being purely glucose in 

 a semi-fluid form. For sweetening properties near- 

 ly four pounds of this glucose would be required to 

 equal one of true sugar ; but as a raw material for 

 the production of spirit, and as an addition to the 

 forage crop, the plant may be found to have a high 

 economical importance. 



Prof. John Bacon confirmed the results at which 

 Dr. Hayes had arrived. He was unable to obtain 

 any crystals of sugar-cane in the Sorghum. 



The Chairman, Dr. Jackson, said he had made 

 extensive investigations into the chemical properties 

 and economical value of the Sorghum for the U. S. 

 Government, which would soon be published in the 

 Patent OflUce Reports. 



Mr. N. H. Bishop exhibited some of the seed of 

 this plant, which is imported from France and not 

 China, as might be supposed. It is estimated that 

 ten tons would be sold in Boston this season for 

 planting, and that one pound would plant an acre. 

 — Traveller. 



