.o57. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



521 



bending tin, catching the ju'ce as it fell. These 

 canes yielded nearlj' three quarts of the sap. To 

 expiess still more if possible, they were passed 

 through a third time, but this gave a small quanti- 

 ty of a green heavy sap having the peculiar smell 

 of the cane. This I found Wiis a mistake, for the 

 juice (ibtaiiied was mainly from the woody portion, 

 and hnd very little saccharine matter in it, but much 

 of a volatile and somewhat acrid substance, which 

 gave an unpleasant odor and taste to the juice. The 

 sap was then boiled moderately and the scum ta- 

 ken off until it was of the consistency of syrup. A 

 small quantity of lime was added while boiling, to 

 correct what acid might be in it. The result was a 

 half pint of very good syrup, but not quite so good 

 as some made a few days before without the third 

 pressing. At this rate, the yield would be from one 

 hundred to one hundred and twenty-five gallons of 

 molasses to the acre of such a crop as I have raised. 

 The cost of raising would in part be paid by stover 

 from the leaves and tops. The cost of making from 

 the cane I judge would be less than that of making 

 maple syrup. From this experiment it would seem 

 that the Sorghum is not necessarily a new Rohan, 

 but may become a paying crop for the purpose of 

 making syrup. 



I will only add, that I have no possible pecuniary 

 or otht^r interest in this matter, except what every 

 man has who has paid the enormous prices for 

 sweetening of late. J. H. N. 



ML Hollis Sent., Holliston, Ms., Sept. 21. 



For the New England Farmer. 



GLANCE AT THE SHOW IN CONCORD. 



Arriving on the ground at 12 M., I was cor- 

 dially gi'eeted by our old friend. Dr. B., and trans- 

 ported around the ground, and took a hasty view 

 of the animals presented. I should judge there 

 were in all two hundred. I was pleased to see the 

 horses, old and young, so presented that their good 

 points could be fully observed, without any offence 

 to decency, morality or propriety. In the Hall, I 

 thought the show of fruits and vegetables was 

 magnificent. Old Middlesex, although she has 

 been razeed, on the right and left, still holds her 

 own with great force. 



But what pleased me most was the modest and 

 truly sensible address of the Rev. Mr. B. at the ta- 

 ble. If our clergymen generally would qualify 

 themselves thus to speak, and exert themselves to 

 do so, they would more than double their useful- 

 ness without detracting from their other more ap- 

 propriate duties. The fact is the clergy keep them- 

 selves so aloot from the world, and move in their 

 own prescribed path, pro forma, that they are verj 

 apt to be wanting in common sense. I was sorry 

 to find my good friend, the Secretary, off duty by 

 reason of much service. I hope he will long live 

 to enjoy the respect and esteem that are now uni- 

 versally paid him. I was pleased to hear the Gov- 

 ernor speak in praise of agricultural papers. I 

 think he made a very good speech at Concord. 



Essex. 



Hens and Eggs. — For severa^ years past I have 

 spent a few weeks of the latter part of August on 

 the Kennebec river, in Maine. The lady with whom 

 I have stopped is a highly accomplished and intelli- 

 gent housewife. She supports a "hennery," and 



from her I derived my information in this matter. 

 She told me that for many years she had been in 

 the habit of administering to her hens with thtnr 

 common food, at the rate of a teaspoonful of cay- 

 enne pepper each alternate day, to a dozen fowls. 

 Last season, when I was with her, each morning 

 she brought in from twelve to fourteen eggs, having 

 but sixteen hens in all. She again and again ex- 

 perimented in the matter, by omitting to feed with 

 the cayenne for two or three days. The conse- 

 quence invariably was, that her product of eggs fell 

 off to five or six per day. The same effect of use- 

 ing the cayenne is produced in winter as well as in 

 summer. — Boston Transcript. 



For the New England Farmer. 



LETTER FROM MR. FRENCH. 



THE RHINE. 

 Heidelberg, on the Rhine, Jlug. 2, 1857. 

 My Dear Brown : — My last letter left us at 

 Cologne, the city with whose name is associated, in 

 the minds of those who have not visited it, a delight- 

 ful perfume, but after a walk through that filthiest 

 of all cities, the name of Cologne will never be a 

 synonyme for any agreeable odor. Coleridge has 

 "done justice to the subject" in the following lines, 



"Ye nymphs, who reign o'er sewers and sinks, 



The river Rhine it is well known 



Doth wash our city of Cologne. 



But tell me, nymphs, what power divine 



Shall henceforth wash the river Rhine?" 



My own idea is, that in manufacturing such im- 

 mense quantities of Cologne water, the agreeable 

 perfumes have all been exhausted in exportation, 

 leaving the refuse for home consumption. 



However, Cologne has its beauties. A fine bridge 

 of boats crossed the Rhine at this point, and this is 

 the place where pilgrims to the waters of "Father 

 Rhine" leave the rail, and embark on the river to 

 ascend the stream. 



At Cologne, is a famous cathedral, commenced 

 six hundred years ago, and yet unfinished. Here 

 we see a singular contest between man and Time 

 himself, for the old part of the cathedral is actual- 

 ly crumbling to ruin, while the work is still going 

 on to complete the opposite side. But the best 

 thing at Cologne, is the Church of St. Ursula, and 

 its relics. Some fifteen hundred years ago, eleven 

 thousand virgins, mostly from England, went on a 

 pilgrimage to Rome, with a maiden called Ursula 

 at their head. Everybody wanted to marry her, 

 partly because she was very beautiful, and partly, 

 perhaps, because she had made a vow of perpetual 

 virginity. After a long and weary pilgrimage, she 

 and all her company were slaughtered by the Huns, 

 because they refused their embraces, at Cologne, 

 and there they were buried. An abbey was built 

 near the spot, and long afterwards the bones of the 

 eleven thousand virgins were disinterred, nicely 

 cleaned up and ornamented by the nuns, and are 

 now shown at the Church of St. Ursula. The 



