isn.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



d47 



ply of cane is almost buyoiul calciilaLioii now, 

 and will conlinue to incuease as the vast 

 regions towards the Paeilic lill up. If, there- 

 fore, it can be made available in sn]iplying the 

 constantly increasiiij; demand for siij^ar it 

 must become a vast source of national wealth. 

 If the juices it contains arc at all rich in 

 saccharine matter cheap suj^'ar would be tlie 

 result. Its culture would assume still greater 

 proportions tlian at present. It would prove 

 one of the farmers' licst crops. At present 

 the stalks are rarely utilized except for the 

 manure pile. Should they be found to possess 

 a value beyond that they will assuuKi a more 

 important place in agricultural econoni)'. We 

 await with much interest the rejiort of the 

 department, and trust it will be such as to 

 justify the anticipations that have been formed 

 from the little that has already been made 

 known. 



AMBER SUGAR CANE. 



Minnesota's Experience— An Industry Worth 

 the Attention of Lancaster County Farmers. 

 The cultivation of "Sugar Cane," or 

 "Sugar Grass" (Sorghum saccharum), as it 

 is called specifically, in order to distinguish it 

 from the Southern or true sugar cane (Sac- 

 charum officiuarum), involves an agricultural 

 and commercial, as well as a domestic inter- 

 est, that must eventually elicit the attention 

 of progressive farming in all the Northern and 

 Middle States, if not tlie entire Union. It is 

 well known that the true "sugar cane " (Sac- 

 charum) is cultivated froin cuttings, and from 

 cuttings alone, and that it is not adapted to 

 the peculiar climatic vicissitudes of the North- 

 ern States. Because, if overtaken by a severe 

 spring frost — which often affects it disas- 

 trously even in tlie "Sunny South" — it can- 

 not be so readily renewed, or replaced by re- 

 planting, as can be done in crops raised from 

 seeds alone ; for when the sprouts push forth 

 and start to grow in the spring they cannot 

 well be retarded, but must be planted ; more- 

 over, it seems to be exceedingly difficult to 

 mature the seeds of sugar cane in our country, 

 or anywhere else, except, perhaps, in the 

 country where it originated ; at least sugar 

 cane cultivators never make the production 

 of seed a specialty, and never depend upon it 

 as a means of perpetuating the crops. But 

 in the cultivation of " sugar gra.ss " (sorghum) 

 the case is very different. This is grown from 

 seeds alone, and is as sure a crop in the 

 Northern States as the common Indian corn, 

 or btoom corn, and it matures its seeds as 

 surely and as thoroughly as wheat, corn rye 

 or oats do, and when touched by a severe late 

 spring or early summer frost, can be as easily 

 replaced by replanting as the common corn 

 (Zea maize) can, and with as certain results. 

 The trials which have been made in the culti- 

 vation of sorghum or sugar grass in the 

 Northern States have been as satisfactory as 

 could have been expected under all the cir- 

 cumstances, and with the moderate stock of 

 knowledge on the subject possessed by our 

 farmers generally. There was no necessity in 

 abating their efforts, or in relinquishing its 

 cultivation altogether, because they did not 

 realize their maiden anticipations. Some 

 forty years ago the whole North went S])as- 

 modically into the silk culture, or rather into 

 the speculation of Morus inullicaulus trees, 

 and when the bubble bursted, the whole 

 enterprise was just as sjiasmodically aban- 

 doned, and yet the cultivation and manufac- 

 ture of silk still goes on, and is perhaps the 

 largest industrial interest in the world, and 

 before we celebrate our second centemiial, onr 

 own California will supply onr entire Union. 

 The question in such a matter should not be 

 solely, how shall I benefit my.self, but how may 

 I benefit mankind ? Some of the Western 

 States, even those north of our parallel of 

 latitude, have persevered in the cultivation of 

 Sorghum, and in the manufacture of syrup 

 and eyen of sugar, this industry is increa.sing. 

 They are now cultivating a variety called 

 " Amber Cane," and the results have far 

 transcended their most sanguine expectations. 



J-ast week the Stale Agricultural Society of 

 Minnesota held its annual iiidustiial exhibi- 

 tion at St. I'aul in that State, whilst another 

 was held at MinTiea|>olis by the Agricultural 

 and Mechanical Association in the same week, 

 and on the whole the occ'asion has been con- 

 sidered " till' most remarkable in the history 

 of agriculture in the country." The cxhild- 

 tion of sugar, sugar mills and sugar evapora- 

 tors was very ample and very satisfactory, as 

 the following extracts fully illustrate : 



The St. Paul Pioneer Prcsn publishes a re- 

 markable announcement from the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. It says a sample of 

 sugar made from the Minnesota amber cane 

 was some time since forwarded to the (Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture at Washington, and 

 by him jilaced in the hands of experts for a 

 thorough and careful analysis. To the sur- 

 prise of all who are acquainted with it, the 

 result was as follows : 



Cane sugar (true succhiirlue) S8.9 



Griipe Huifiir, glucose '*. 6 6 



Water 6.6 



"The result," says a correspondent of the 

 Prairie Fanner, "is one of the most imiiort- 

 ant that the Deiiartment of Agriculture has 

 ever ascertained. It now only remains to per- 

 fect the processes by which true sugar has 

 been obtained from sorghum in the banana 

 regions of this country, and then go on to 

 supply the demand, which amounts to fully 

 S20U,(i(X),000 a year. This opens up a new 

 avenue to American agriculture almost bound- 

 less in extent, and fully equal to the produc- 

 tion of breail food among us. The new enter- 

 prise will demand technical skill and intelli- 

 gence of a high grade, and is worthy general 

 attention and patient perseverance until com- 

 plete success is commanded." If the Pioneer 

 Press or the Prairie Farmer would give 

 further particulars in regard to the care, cul- 

 ture and average yield of the amber cane, and 

 the comparative certainty of its growth in 

 Minnesota or elsewhere, the fixcts would be of 

 much interest to farmer readers in all parts 

 of the country. 



Now, we may naturally suppose that what 

 can be accomplished in the cold regions of 

 Minnesota, all other things being equal, can be 

 accomplished in Pennsylvania, and especially 

 in Lancaster county; for wherever "broom 

 corn" — a species of sorghum — will grow, the 

 "amber cane" can also be cultivated. True, 

 as the writer of the above paragraph says, 

 "the new enterprise will demand technical 

 skill and intelligence of a high grade, and is 

 worthy of general attention," and although 

 this may Ilea sort of terror to "old fogies, "yet 

 it is the very condition that the risinar genera- 

 tion of farmers is preparing itself for. Every- 

 thing ixMpiires more skill and intelligence 

 now than it did fifty or a hundred years ago. 

 Our soil and its manipulation have i)assed be- 

 yond its virgin state, and like a gold, iron or 

 coal mine, nothing can begotten out of it with 

 profit, unless it is intelligently and skillfully 

 worked. Theoretical works on the subject of 

 sorghum culture have already been pub- 

 lished, and by the study of these, with per- 

 severing industry, the practical part can be 

 surely and cfiiciently acipiired. 



The Prairie Farmer says, "it is not aware 

 that any condition of soil or of climate pecu- 

 liar to the State of Minnesota, render the cul- 

 tivation of 'amber cane' there any more cer- 

 tain of success than in other States," and 

 further remarks, that it "would advise those 

 who are desirous of making experiments to 

 consult with Mr. C. F. Miller, of Dundas, and 

 Seth II. Kciiney, of Morristown, Minnesota, 

 who will furnish full particulars and informa- 

 tion ill regard to seeds, culture, etc." The 

 State Society of Minnesota purchased an acre 

 of growing cane for experimental purposes at 

 the exhibition, and when cut, stripped and 

 headed, the canes weighed l'.l,'JI4 pounds. 

 We believe our Lancaster county corn lands 

 could exceed that much easier tiian they could 

 produce 80 bushels of com to the acre. 

 ^ 



Pay your back siibscriptions. 



"A SNAKE IN HIS EYE." 

 Much ado is now being made about a cer- 

 tain horse standing in a stable in Sanson) 

 street, Philadelphia, alleged to have a "snake 

 in his eye," and many people in and about 

 that city are Hocking thitherward in order to 

 see the wonderful phenomenon, declaring that 

 they " have never .se(,'n the like before.'" In- 

 asmuch as among those wonilerstruck visitors 

 An- to be founil learned physicians, veterinary 

 surgeons, and othei"S "who have dippid deep 

 into the mysteries of anatomy, and have 

 absorbed the lore of American cidlege.s and 

 (ierman universities, "it is a little remark- 

 able that nobody has seen or heard the like 

 before, especially as it is by no means a new 

 thing, a number of similar cases having got- 

 ten into tin; columns of secular newspapers 

 during the past ten years. These phenomena 

 being reported usually as involving the pre- 

 .senee of "snakes," the wonderment of tlie 

 people is greatly enhanced, because the same 

 idea attached to a subject of the Ophidian 

 order, is also attached to these little animal 

 l)arasites. Of course, it is not a snake they 

 liave seen, nor anything like a snake, although 

 there may be i>resent a miniature animal, 

 somewhat aiiproximating to a snake in out- 

 ward appearance. In point of fact, physiologi- 

 cally or anatomically si)eaking, these animals 

 don't come as near — or any nearer — in organic 

 structure, to a snake, as they do to a man, or 

 any other animal, whether fish, flesh or fowl, 

 belonging to the great division of vertebrates. 

 A snake, properly so-called, is an air-breath- 

 ing vertebrated animal ; so is a man, a horse, 

 an elephant, or a hen ; and to call an animal 

 a snake only because it is long, tapering and 

 cylindrical, would be about equivalent to call- 

 ing every fruit a iilum or a peach, only be- 

 cause it happened to be spherical or round. 

 The exact position of these worms (not 

 snakes) in scientific classification is not yet 

 fully determined, on account of their infre- 

 quency and the ditficulties attending their 

 consecutive investigation, but their analogy 

 to the Gordiaceous ("Ilair-worm" family) 

 and other worms, leads to the supposition 

 that they are migrat»ry in their habits, and 

 that one part of their lives is passed in a 

 locality quite dificrent from that in which 

 they have at various times times and under 

 various circumstances been detected. The 

 "gapes " in fowls is caused by the accumula- 

 tion of worms in their trachea, or breathing 

 organs, which belong to a division of the same 

 family. Various species aie found in pigs, 

 calves, dogs, sheep, birds, beetles, grasshop- 

 pers, fishes, etc., etc., as well as in men, 

 horses and other animals. We have often 

 found them in grasshoppers, and on one occa- 

 sion in a large water beetle — (Dytiscus). 

 Among the zoological specimens collected by 

 Mr. Merriman, in the explorations of Prof. 

 Ilayden, in the summer of 1872, a new species 

 of these threadworms, or hair worms, was 

 found under the eye of a hawk (Buteo). It 

 seemed to be entirelj' new, and was described 

 by Dr. I'acker under the name of Eustrongy lus 

 buteonus, and is allied to a species (E. i>apil- 

 losus) found very frequently in the brain of 

 the " Anbinga-B'ird " of Florida. :Mr. AValker 

 took two specimens of a species from the brain 

 of a "Night hawk " (Chordeilis Virginianus) 

 shot at Compton, New Hampshire, in Juno, 

 1W:J, which has been described as Eustrongy- 

 lus chordeilis. 



A very interesting (?) account of "A snake 

 in his eye'' (taken from a Philadelphia paper) 

 was published on the first page of The Lilelli- 

 <jencei; some days ago, in which some sugges- 

 tions were advanced in reference to "the 

 beast '^ that were "wise and otherwise," but 

 somehow as soon as the writer encountered 

 the authority that could have enlightened 

 him on the subject (vide the last paragraiih) 

 he fied ; perhaps becau.se it undermined his 

 pet theory of "a snake," and was likely to 

 take "all the wind out of his sail." We don't 

 blame him for fieeing, l)ecause he was under 

 the special pay of his emploj'cr, and was writ- 

 ing for the niiusses, and the masses always 

 prefer the sensational before the scientific. 



