23 



SILKMANUAL, AND 



BEBT SUGAR. 



The rapid increase of the culture of beets and 

 manufacture of sugar therefrom, in France, ought 

 to excite more inquiry in relation to the business 

 than it does. 



It seems by an article from the N. Y. Eve. Post, 

 (published last week) that the beet sugar has near- 

 ly drove out of France the colonial sugar — that 

 from 68 manufactories in 1828 they have increas- 

 ed to 400 in 1835 — and from five and a half mil- 

 lions of kilogram sugar, to thirtyfive millions in 

 the same time. These facts come from the French 

 minister, who says that he lost 17 millions of fr. 

 (more than 5 1-4 million dollars) revenue- in 1835 

 hy the dimunition of Imported Sugar, and propo- 

 ses a tax on beet sugar, (to make good iJie deficien- 

 cy,) of 7^ francs, (about a dollar and 41 cents) 

 upon every 100 pounds. There is no better land 

 in the world for the culture of the beet root, than 

 the deep mellow soil on the banks of the Connec- 

 ticut — the land that will raise the best broom 

 corn will raise the best beets -.— to raise either in 

 jierfection a rich, light alluvial soil must be culti- 

 vated to let the roots and small fibres spread to the 

 greatest width and penetrate to the greatest depth 

 without obstruction — Will not our Hadley and 

 Hatfield friends start in this business — they are 

 always ahead of us in enterprize) and they will 

 soon see the necessity of not depending wholly 

 upon the broom corn crop — mulberry trees and 

 the silk culture can be carried on any where, but 

 the Connecticut Valley is the garden for Indian 

 Corn and fat Cattle — tor broom Corn as an aux- 

 iliary, and for the brush as an article of coin- 

 merce — so let it be for the eulture of the beet 

 root as the greatest subsidiary to Indian corn in 

 the fattening of cattle, and for the growth and 

 manufacture of an article, second to none in com- 

 merce, save the staff of life itself 



We hope this subject will be taken up by the 

 Farmers in Northau)pton, Hatfield and Hadley, 

 and measures adopted to procure information in 

 regard to the process of raising the beets and man- 

 ufacturing the sugar in France ; for that purpose 

 we propose a meeting to be held in this town on 

 the fourth day of July next, in the mean time, if a 

 iew peo[)le should get together in Hatfield and 

 Hadley, and choose committees to attend a meet- 

 ing in this town on the 4th July, that fact would 

 be sufficient to insure a respectable meeting, the 

 doings of which it is to be hoped would result in 

 creating a new article of commerce from the 

 Banks of the Connecticut. — Hampshire Repub- 

 lican. 



The Corn Crop. — All, or nearly all, the ac- 

 counts we have published, of great products of 

 Indian corn, agree in two particulars, viz : in not 

 using the plough in the after culture, and in not 

 earthing, or but slightly, the hills. These results 

 go to demonstrate, that the entire roots are essen- 

 tial to the vigor of the crop ; and that roots to en- 

 able them to perform their functions as nature de- 

 signed, must be near the surface. If the roots 

 are severed with the plough, in dressing the crop, 

 the plant is partially exhausted in throwing out a 

 new set near the surface, where alone they can 

 perform all their offices. There is another mate- 

 rial advantage in this mode of cultivjiting the corn 

 crop — it saves a vast deal of manual lahor. 



There is another question of interest to farmers, 

 which relates to the mode of harvesting the crop, 

 that is, whether it is best to top the stalks, cut the 

 whole at the ground when the grain is glazed, or 

 cut the while when the grain has fully ripened. 

 We have stated the ex|>eriments of Mr Clark, of 

 Northampton, one of the best practical farmers of 

 our country, and of other gentlemen, showing that 

 the grain suffers a diminution of six or eight bush- 

 els to the acre, by topping the stalks ; and there 

 seems to be no counterbalancing benefit to the 

 fodder, uuless at the expense of carrying the stalks 

 to the borders of the field, that they may be se- 

 cured before the crop is gathered, and before they 

 become blanched and half ruined. Audit is no 

 protection against early autumnal frosts, but rath- 

 er exposes unripened grain to be more injured. 

 Hence so far as regards these two modes, all who 

 have made a comparison, seem to concur in the 

 opinion, that stripping the corn of its tops and 

 leaves is a bad practice. — Albany Cultivator. 



Simple cure for Rheumatism. — Boil a small |)ot 

 full of potatoes, and bathe the part affected with 

 the water in which the potatoes are boiled, as hot 

 as can be applied, immediately before getting into 

 bed. The pain will be removed, oral least grad- 

 ually alleviated by next morning. The most ob- 

 stinate rheumatic pains are known to have been 

 cured by one application of this novel and simple 

 remedy. — Scotsman, 



No man who loves his family fails to take a 

 newspaper, says a cotemporar}'. Very true ; and 

 no man who loves his character, fails to pay lor it. 



Mr John Piatt, of Marietta, Ohio, advertises in 

 a paper of that place that he has succeeded in cul- 

 tivating the genuine Tea Plant of China. He has, 

 he says, raised a plant for ten years past at Mari- 

 etta, and after a series of expensive experiments 

 has been fully successful in discovering the art of 

 dyeing and manufacturing the leaves into tea of a 

 quality quite equal to iuiported Young Hyson. 

 He offers gratuitously to furnish seed of the last 

 year's growth to any gentleman desirous of pursu- 

 ing the cultivation. — JV. Y. CoUr.fy Enq. 



